Tricky Thing
by Dixie C Jones
Summary: Reincarnation is a tricky business. Souls (humans, gods, aliens, it doesn't matter), are things of comfort. They like to stick together in groups that had offered comfort in life. Siblings, best friends, lovers all tend to stick together. The bond of love is a powerful thing. Thats one of the reasons 7 superheroes were reborn as wizards together.
1. Chapter 1

Reincarnation is a tricky business.

Souls (humans, gods, aliens, it doesn't matter), are things of comfort. They like to stick together in groups that had offered comfort in life. Siblings, best friends, lovers all tend to stick together. The bond of love is a powerful thing.

At the same time, the souls normally stay in one universe. Souls from a universe of ninjas wouldn't be reborn into a world of pirates, for instance. Too different, and the souls wouldn't survive. However, there are certain things that can change that rule. One way to change it, for example, would to include a god or two in the group of souls getting reincarnated.

Asgardians would normally get reborn on Asgard, though because of their long lives it happens even less then it does on Earth. But with these two particular gods so close to so many Earthlings, they would have to be reborn on Earth with them. However, for them to be in the same universe as their still living family, but not on the same planet would cause massive tips in the balance of the universe.

So, the group of souls would have to be sent to somewhere else. But it would have to be a universe that was very close to their home one.

Which is why 7 souls from a world of superheroes were reborn in a world of magic.

xXx

-Steve and Tony-

If you asked Harry Potter to discribe himself, he would tell you that he was... well, he was just Harry. It was always an easy answer and one that didn't get him in trouble with his realives.

However, if you asked him what he wanted to be, then he would tell you in hushed tones as if it was a secret that he wanted to be a hero.

"I may not be much," He would say, a slight grin coming on his face. "But if people would just give me a chance, I know I can be one!..."

But he knew he would never be one. His Aunt and Uncle wouldn't keep telling him how bad he was unless they had a sliver of truth. But in his dreams... In his dreams, he was a hero. He rescued people in everyone. He saved the world in a few. He even had friends! People he knew he could trust, even if he could never see their faces correctly.

In the past few weeks, leading up to his eleventh birthday, he had been having one dream in particular, though he never seemed to finish it.

_He was fighting something. He didn't even know what, though he was pretty sure they were monsters by the way they were shaped. But he was getting tired. He wouldn't be able to do this forever. Suddenly, the only girl that constantly showed up in his dreams, Black Widow was the only name that ever showed up, voice come through him comm._

_**"I can shut down the portal!" **__She yelled.__** "I can shut it down! Does anybody read?"**_

_**"Do it!"**__ He yelled back. __**"Do it now!"**_

"_**No wait!"**__ One of his friends, Iron Man is what he called him the most, come over the comm. "__**Don't do it yet!"**_

_**"-!"**__ He yelled the man's name. He never could hear the teams actual names in his dreams. He was pretty sure he was Captain. __**"We need to shut that thing down! We're not gonna stop these things with it open!"**_

_**"I have a nuke coming in fast! And I know just where to put it..."**_

_He felt his stomach sink. He knew what Iron Man was talking about, and he didn't like thought. __**"-, you know thats a one way trip..."**_

**_"I know, but I don't have a choice."_**

_He could only stand there and watch as his friend flew the nuke through the portal._

Thats where he always woke up. He always had to just lay there until his aunt got on to him for being lazy, waiting for the horrible feeling of helplessness to calm down, just like he was doing now. He shook his head as his aunt pounded on his door again. He knew he was getting to attached to the people in his dreams. Was this what crazy people felt like? He knew they weren't real, but seeing one of them die was just... bad.

Really, it wasn't until he met a boy named Draco did the dream change.

_**"Please tell me nobody kissed me." **_

_**"We won!"**_

_**"Ok, whoo! Lets just... Lets just not come in tomorrow. Lets just take a day. Do you guys want some thing to eat? I passed this Shrawama place earlier and I never had it."**_

Harry woke up smiling. Finally, a dream where Iron Man survived.

xXx

Draco Malfoy listened to his father way to much.

Or, at least, that what he thinks. But there are times when he forgets. There are times when he just starts reciting the things that his father tell him, though later, when he realizes that he did he would feel bad. He never knew why he thought this way of course. It was his father. Of course he should listen to him! But when he did, and just told other people what his father thinks... it just leaves him with a bad feeling.

It wasn't always this way. When he was younger, he would gladly recite his father's words. It wasn't until his 6th birthday that he realized something about them was wrong. It was after his part and his Uncle Severus was giving him his present in his room.

"Why didn't you give me this at the party?" He asked, tilting his head as he sat on his bed. His uncle smiled and just handed him the box.

"I'm afraid that your father and mother wouldn't like it." Severus said. Draco blinked and looked down at the box. What would be so important that his uncle went behind his father's back? He shrugged and opened the box. It was a box full of wires and thin square pieces of metal, along with some tools like a screwdriver and a wrench. Draco looked at his uncle with a raised eyebrow.

"Look, Draco, you're a prodigy. You know that, yes?" His uncle began to answer his unasked question. Draco nodded. "Well, the things you do the best at that I noticed were puzzle like things. And I just have a hunch." His uncle stood up and smiled again. "Just... mess with it for a week. If you don't like it, just give it back. I'll be back next Saturday." He turned to leave but paused in the doorway.

"And... those are muggle items. Your parents wouldn't be happy to have that in their home, so lets just keep this between us, alright?"

He had loved it. He had used the supplies in the box up withing a week, making a half done processes(though he didn't know it at the time). His uncle had then taken him out to the library and checked him out some books on the subject, since he didn't know much about muggles. Then he got him some more supplies. And Draco had always made sure to hide them from his parents.

Of course, he still tried to get his father's attention, to get his praise. He did the best he could at his wizard studies, and he was a prodigy. He could learn and understand the theory behind the magic within half the time it took Blaise, or Pansy, or Tracey. And it always got his father to look at him with a slight smile, a pat on the head, and a "Good job son. Malfoys are always the best."

That had, of course, been happening less and less as he was getting closer and closer to Hogwarts age. So he drove deeper into the land of technology. His uncle had told him that technology wouldn't work at Hogwarts because of the large area of magic, so he set on fixing that. But he soon learned that he wouldn't be able to much without magic of his own, so he was just going to have to wait until September.

xXx

"Hello," said Draco said the the boy that just walked in, "Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes," said the boy.

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said Draco, though he really didn't care. He was just bored from just standing there. "Then I'm going to drag them off to took at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow. Have you got your own broom?"

"No," said the boy. Draco supposed that was fine. Maybe his parents were overprotective.

"Play Quidditch at all?"

"No," the boy said again, giving him a confused look then a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what that is."

"Oh," Draco said, tone growing darker and sneering. He may like muggle technology but years of slander on muggleborns doesn't just go away. "So you're a muggleborn."

"Muggleborn?" the boy asked, confused, before getting an understanding look. "No. Both my parents were wizards."

"Oh." Draco said again, blinking in surprise. The dark look was gone as quickly as it appeared. He didn't know if he should feel bad or not. "Then how do you not know about Quidditch?"

"Sorry," the boy repeated, shrugging his shoulders the best he could. "I was raised as a muggle because my parents died." He paused and debated if he should give his name. After the scene at the Leaky Calderon, he decided he wouldn't give his last name unless asked. "I'm Harry, by the way."

"I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy." Draco said, looking at him closely, as debating if he should continue talking or not. Would that count? He wasn't sure, but Harry seemed nice enough. His father said that Muggleborns were annoying, always getting in the way of their culture. But if Harry was from a pureblood family maybe there was home. "What... What was your parents last name?"

"My own." Harry said with a small smile. "My name didn't get changed. My last name is... promise me you won't treat me any different."

"What?" Draco asked, blinking. What could be so important? He was so confused, but he nodded anyway. "Alright. Whats your name then? I'm way to curious now."

"...Potter. I'm Harry Potter."

Draco's eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. Harry Potter? The Harry Potter?! He was about to ask a million questions, before remembering what he had promised. He slowly released his breath, only just stopping himself from asking. "Alright then. Now I understand. So... you don't know much about the wizarding world do you?" Harry shook his head. "Ok, so Hogwarts has four houses. No one really knows until they get there, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" He was rambling, but he didn't know what else to do. Harry, thankfully, cut him off.

"What do the houses mean?" Harry asked.

"Right..." Draco paused before starting again. He should of started with that. "Slytherin is the house of Cunning, the best house my father said, Gryffindor is the house of the brave, or the house of the reckless my father said, Ravenclaw is the house of the smart, or the house of the know-it-alls my father said, and Hufflepuff is the house of the loyal, or the house of the duffers my-"

"-father said." Harry finished. He sighed. "Do you always repeat what your father says? I don't mean to by impolite, but I don't want to be friends with someone living perfectly fine in the shadow of their father."

Draco looked visibly pained at this and Harry looked worried. What did he say what did he say?! Before he could start apologizing, however, Draco swallowed and nodded.

Oh jeez. He was doing it again. But this time... for some reason, the bad feeling that he usually got was doubled. Why had this boy, even if he was Harry Potter, caused him to feel worse about his habit? He caught Harry's worried look and decided he would think about this later. He swallowed so he could speak and nodded.

"Ya... I need to stop that. Sorry."

But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, casting one last look at him, hopped down from the footstool.

"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said Draco, and just for a moment, as Harry walked away, Draco saw a tall man with blond hair waving bye.

"See ya, Draco." Harry said as he walked away

Draco blinked, and Harry turned back to normal. What. Just. Happened?

xXx

-Thor, Loki, and Bruce-

Ron Weasley always been closest to his sister.

He didn't know why, of course, especially since they rarely got along without an argument. But it just felt... right. Maybe it was because he just liked arguing. Maybe it was because she was the closest to his age. Maybe it was because the feeling of having his older siblings look down on him was... not good, and he was the older brother with Ginny. Who knows?

But he has always been closest to his sister.

Ginny was incredibly smart, catching on the bases of magic that their mother used around the house before she had them explained to her. Ron was never far off, but he always missed that one key detail to make it make sense that Ginny always seemed to get. She was also mischievous, more so then anyone in their family, even the twins. Maybe thats why he was so close to her. She was different.

He was also close to Ginny's friend Luna, though nowhere as much as he was with Ginny. Luna was an odd girl, always on with the weird creatures her father and mother tell her about, and strangely, Ron and Ginny almost always believe her. At the same time, she was oddly interested in muggle science. He didn't really know why, as he wasn't sure where she had even learned of muggle science, but it was fine... until she started sprouting off terms that he couldn't hope to comprehend.

At a young age, they also learned that a Luna preforming accidental magic scared or mad was... a violent Luna.

"Then my dad told me about a bilgesnipe. They-" Luna started, happily rambling to them as they sat outside by a tree as the older Weasleys' played on their brooms.

"-are repulsive beasts with scales and giant antlers." Ron finished for her without thinking. Luna blinked and looked at him.

"Brother, how did you know that?" Ginny asked, eyebrow raised. Ron blinked, and he realized what he said.

"I... I dunno." He shrugged. "It just seemed normal..."

Luna blinked then smiled brighter and continued to ramble, soon trying to explain what gamma rays were. Ginny sat there, seeming to understand after awhile, but Ron started to tune her out after a bit. They seemed to realize that the topic lost him because they changed the different conversation rather quickly. Soon, however, it was time for dinner then Luna to go home right after. Once the blond girl was gone, Ron found Ginny sitting on the porch.

"Something wrong, sister?" He asked. She looked up and sighed as he sat down next to her.

"You'll be leaving for Hogwarts soon." She said. "I'll be the only kid in the house..."

"It's only for a few months. I'll be back before you know it." Ron said. "Then it's your turn to come with us."

"Ya..." Ginny was silent for a moment before smirking. "Are you nervous?"

"Nervous?" Ron huffed. "Since when am I nervous?"

"I seem to remember that time when we broke mum's vase and you were too nervous to do any accidental magic to fix it." Ginny said, laughing.

"Hey! I wasn't nervous, I was terrified of mum!" Ron said. "How do you think I survived that incident?"

"I seem to remember that I was the one that fixed the vase before she found out..." Ginny said before pausing. "And how did you being terrified help you survive?"

"You know its healthy to be afraid of mum."

"True." Ginny smiled and looked fully at him. "You know, this might be the only alone time we gunna get in the next two months, so let me tell you this now."

"What?"

"I may be a brat sometimes," She said. "But never doubt I love you."

Ron blinked and froze, a ghost voice coming from nowhere.

"I may be envious sometimes, but never doubt I love you."

"Ron?" Ginny's voice broke through the ghost voice, making it go away and Ron blink. He shook his head and smiled.

"Sorry, that just sounded familiar."

"What? Me telling you I love you?" Ginny raised an eyebrow, though Ron could tell she was teasing. "I should hope so. Or is your mind so small that you can't remember these past 10 years?"

"Shut it." Ron said laughing. They shared a smile before Ginny decided to lean in with a smirk.

"Now give me a kiss."

Ron pushed her away, laughing. "Stop it!" Ginny just takled hugged him.

xXx

-Natasha-

There was times when Hermione Granger's body acts with her thinking.

True, most people had that- the muscle memory. But her's was different.

She never had a martial art lesson, so why should her body automatically preform a kick and flip when those muggers attacked her and her mom?

She got enrolled in a class for that.

She never shot a gun, or even tries to aim at anything, so why was it so easy and natural when she panicked and shot that snake with her grandpa's gun?

She got shooting lessons that as well.

Sometimes she wondered why her body had this... pre-programed muscle memory, but she never stayed on the subject long. She supposed that it was just how she was and got back to her books.

Though, when she started to beg her parents for the small handsome hawk before she went to Hogwarts, it came so out of nowhere, she wondered if that had something to do with it.

xXx

-Clint-

Neville Longbottom didn't like his family.

Now, that doesn't mean he didn't love his family, he just... couldn't bring himself to fill in that gape between disinterest and love. It got worse sometimes, where he might not even love them so much. Mostly when his Uncle tried to threaten his life for his magic or his Grandmother compared him to his father.

During these times, he climbed up to the roof and just sat there. For awhile he would stare at distance. He even made up a game of how many plants he could identfy from far off. But, for the life of him, could never calm down until he closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. When he did that, he was somewhere else, though he never knew where because as soon as he opened his eyes, he would be back home.

But, this other place changed everytime, and he loved it. One time, he felt like he was falling, and had something in his hands, that he quickly let go of one side.

A bow, he figured out later, something he had in his hands alot.

Afterwords, he would just go inside and never talk about that it happened.

Today, he was just sitting there, like on the roof, but the feeling of tile under his hand turned into grass on one side and a hand on the other. He didn't need to see to know someone was with him. He smiled as the wind hit him.

He thinks he likes this one.


	2. Chapter 2

Of course, one thing about reincarnation that everyone should know about was that the only way to get your memories of a past life back would be when everyone in the soul group was in the same room. And since Luna and Ginny wouldn't be at Hogwarts for a year, the memories would have to wait.

xXx

-Circulation-

When Harry's new friend Ron got into an argument with Draco from the robe shop on the train about family, he stared. When they started a fist fight, he panicked. He didn't know what poccessed him to hit his book against the metal wall, but it worked. Both boys looked at him, blinking, probably forgeting he was there.

"Thats enough." He said. Both boys just looked before Ron huffed. "Ron, please. Let Draco sit in here."

"...fine." Ron said, and and let go of Draco's robe. Draco strightened his robe and sat down next to Harry. He touched the bruise that was forming on his chin and hmmed.

"Nice hit there, Point Break." He said, touching it again. "Do... do you think its possible to lose circulation because of a bruise, because this part of my chin feels number then it should."

Ron and Harry could only stare as he continued rambling. And so Draco Malfoy became friends with Ron Weasley and Harry Potter.

xXx

-Dashboard-

He may of became friends Harry and Ron, but Draco never thought he would become friend with Hermione Granger. Harry and Ron were, at least, pureblood, wven if they were blood traitors. But Hermione was a muggleborn, and 11 years of listening to his father talking about how bad they were kinda sticks.

But when, around October, Hermione saw him at a table in the library and helped him fix his numbers on his dashboard of how much money he himself saved, well... friendship wasn't far off.

xXx

-Gray-

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Harry?" Ron asked.

"Yes. He's been nice so far hasn't he? He's our friend, Slytherin or not." Harry answered back.

"But he's..." Ron trailed off, but it was enough to get Harry annoyed.

"The world isn't black and white, Ron." He said. "It's light gray and dark grey. It's just sometimes the light gray is almost white and the dark gray looks black."

"Where... did that come from?" Ron blinked.

"Life lesson." Harry said, blushing. He hadn't meant to go that far.

xXx

-Jet-

"Draco, do you even know what a helicopter is?" Hermione asked, interrupting Draco's bragging about his broom skills. Draco blinked.

"Er... a muggle flying machine." He answered. For all the studying he did on muggle tech, he never did look up flying machines more then the basics. Hermione rooled her eyes.

"A flying machine, that if you get too close, then you get hurt by the wind that it creates."

"Oh..." Draco paused. "What about jets?"

Hermione smiled and started a long rant about what jets were and how they worked. Draco swore that the next time he went to a muggle bookstore, then he was getting a book on airplanes.

xXx

-Music-

Neville breathed in and out, and he was gone from the lake shore, and was in that grassy place with the other person again. Snape's class was stressing him out, making him mess all kinds of things up. It was annoying, so he fell back on the good old working method of going to the other places.

But then, suddenly, there actually was a person next to him, and against his better judgement, he opened his eyes to look. It was Hermione, the girl from his house and year that helped him in Potions. He just looked at her with an raised eyebrow, feeling bolder then normal. Then again, he always felt bolder after he went and came back. Hermione looked a little sheepish.

"Sorry if I disturbed you." She said. "I was walking out here, seeing if i could see Bullseye, my hawk, when I saw you and my body kinda moved on its own..."

Before Neville could answer, a small handsome hawk flew down and landed on Hermione's gloved hand. Neville grinned and, instead of asking her to leave like he was going to, said,

"Did you know that hawks love music?"

xXx

-Noise-

"Whats that noise?" They heard Flich ask. Harry, Draco, and Hermione flinched. They left the cloak up in the tower, and if they didn't move now they would get caught.

"We should have left that dragon with Hagrid." Draco muttered right before Flich showed up in front of them.

xXx

-Payment-

"Do you know the payment for drinking an unicorn's blood, Harry Potter?" Frieze asked. Harry shook his head, still out of it from the attack eariler, before realizing Frieze couldn't see him.

"No."

"You get a cursed half-life."

"Why would someone want that?"

"Why indeed?"

Harry's eyes narrowed in thought. Why would someone put up with a cursed half-life? That just seemed like an extreme road to take, and if you were dying anyway, why prolong it as a cursed half-life? Unless... unless they planned to get another way to prolong their life. Harry's eyes widened.

Another way like the Elixer of Life.

xXx

-Spear-

"I'm really sorry about this Neville." Hermione said, and Neville paused. What was she going to do-?

He blinked as she pointed her wand at him and said, "Petrificus Totalus!"

He gasped as his body locked up and suddenly, he was somewhere else. That had never happened before. But he didn't like it. This place wasn't relaxing or cool. This place was terrifing. Here, his body wasn't locked up. He just didn't have control. He could still feel the ground he was on in the commen room, and Tevor, who had jumped on his head, but he was also very aware of a pressure on his chest.

This was weird and different and he didn't like it.

The thing he liked the worse was, however, how Hermione's wand had changed to a weird looking spear in his vision.

xXx

-Layered-

"You can't trust him, Harry." Draco told him on the train on the way home.

"He's Dumbledore, of course Harry can trust him." Ron said.

"No..." Hermione said. "As much as I hate to distrusted a teacher, i don't think he could be trusted either."

"He's a spy. He's the spy." Draco said. "His secrets have secrets!"

Everyone in the compartment paused, each experiancing something different. The spell was broken by neville opening the compartment door and walking in. Herione looked at him and Harry and Ron shook their heads and Draco just blinked.

"Anyway..." Harry started. "Why do you think he can't be trusted, Draco."

"For one, take the defenses on the stone. They were easy enough for a group of first years. Why were they that easy?" Draco asked and nobody had an answer.

"I-I'm sure Dumbledore had a reason." Ron tried to defend the headmaster. You don't just grow up with stories of him and expect to distrust him just like that.

"Lets just agree that Dumbledore is layered, alright?" Harry said, eager to stop the argument.

xXx

Of course, one thing about reincarnation that everyone should know about was that the only way to get your memories of a past life back would be when everyone in the soul group was in the same room. And since Luna and Ginny wouldn't be at Hogwarts for a year, the memories would have to wait.

You would think that it would be on the train ride that year, or the Welcoming Feast. It wasn't. Because Harry and Ron missed the trainand flew there in the flying car, they missed both. Somehow, at least one of them was always missing from the room when they were all together. Either Luna or Draco, the two that weren't in the Gryffindor house, weren't there, or Ginny missed a meal, or Hermione stayed to long in the library. So it wasn't until the day after Halloween did they finally come together.

xXx

_**Thank you for the reviews! Can i get some more?**_


	3. Chapter 3

Ginny blinked and yawned. Well, she felt better at least. Last night, she had gotten a stomach ache and was forced to miss the Halloween Feast! That was a bummer. She frowned. Why didn't she remember what happened last night? She couldn't have fallen asleep that early...

She was brought out of these thoughts by one of her dorm mates, Heather, came over to her bed.

"Ginny! You will never guess what happened last night!" The black haired girl said. "I ran back here as fast I could, but you were already asleep."

"What happened?" Ginny asked, before the over excited girl could start rambling. She got up and grabbed her uniform. Should she go it breakfest or not? Hmm...

"Flich's cat was petrified," Heather said really quickly. "And on the wall was written, "Enemies of the heir beware. The Chamber had been opened." It was really spokie!"

Ginny paused and turned to her dormmate. "What!? The Chamber? What Chamber?"

"I don't know." Heather shrugged. "But its got the teachers really worked up, and since something attacked the cat, I can see why. You know, they blamed Potter and his friends, including your brother."

"What?!" Ginny cried, speeding up her changing process. Her oaf of a brother better not be in trouble!

"Ya, they were there when other people showed up." Heather got up and walked over toher bed, grabbing her uniform and started heading to the bathroom. "I think they got let off, but I don't know."

Ginny didn't stay long in the dorm after that. Once she was sure that she wasn't running out with bed head or something, she took the stairs to the common room two at a time. She was lucky enough to catch Ron, Neville, Harry and Hermione as they were leaving, and that her crush on Harry decided to take a backseat until she sorted all this out.

"Brother!" She called as she ran over. Ron stopped and looked over, while the other three realized he wasn't following anymore and stopped too. "What happened last night? You didn't get in trouble did you?!"

"Sister, calm down!" Ron said, franticly moving his hands back and forth. "It's fine! Flich tried to blame us but Dumbledore got us out of it!"

"Oh good!" Ginny sighed in relief. She knew her brother could never do anything like that, but she also knew he could easily be blamed for something he didn't do. But still... she was very disturbed by Mrs. Norris's fate.

"But you haven't really got to know Mrs. Norris," Ron told her bracingly after a moment, when he noticed how disturbed she looked. "Honestly, we're much better off without her. Stuff like this doesn't often happen at Hogwarts," Ron assured her. "They'll catch the maniac who did it and have him out of here in no time. I just hope he's got time to Petrify Filch before he's expelled. I'm only joking -" Ron added hastily as Ginny blanched.

The chamber... she wondered if Tom would know anything about it. She turned to go back to her dorm, already reaching into her bag for the journal, when Harry grabbed her arm.

"Hey, Ginny." He said as she froze. "Do you want to come to breakfest with us?"

If it was anyone else, she would have politly refuse. If it was Ron, she would feel happy he had a moment of tact then tease him until he let her go on. But since it was Harry, her crush that made her noramlly deadly tongue freeze, all she could do was manage a nod and follow the others out.

Along the way, Draco Malfoy had joined them from the library and started telling the others what he knew about the chamber. Ginny, of course, listened and storaged the info away for later, but she couldn't helo but noticed how the group acted with each other. Neville hadn't said a thing the whole time she had been there, but how he and Hermione acted around each other, he didn't need to speak. Hermione kept inserting facts that she remembered from the various books she read, though Ginny noticed how she shared glances with Neville every so often. The redhead didn't even know if Hermione knew she did it, but she was doing it. Harry kept asking questions as Ron and Draco kept telling about the chamber, and got into an argument with Draco. It was both amusing and annoying.

It didn't take long before they were all seated at the Gryffindor table, even Draco. Draco had been jumoing between tables the entire year, and Ginny didn't want to know how his dad was reacting to that. Honestly, she stayed out of the conversation, which had gone from the chamber to the potions homework that her brother was having trouble with. She just focused on her food, sure in the knowledge that her homework was done in full.

It wasn't until Luna walked in that her focus shifted.

It was like waking up. She paused and blinked a few times, and suddenly everything fell into place. The battle, the intusion of Doom and that soilder (terrible luck on that day), the blast that he couldn't even block with hi-her magic. Well, reincarnation. She didn't think she was close enough to those Avengers to be reincarnated with them.

Speaking of the Avengers...

She looked over at her brother and his friends. Ron just had to be Thor. She would not of been reincarnated with him and not be his younger sibling. And lo and behold, she was right. Ron looked dazed, just like his friends, and Ginny could bet that none of them would know what happened as well as she. She smirked slightly. How long until they figured out that they all where there? As she caught sight of Luna walking over to her, looking slightly dazed like the others, though it was hard to tell with her normal daze look, Ginny decided if they still didn't know by the end of the year, then she would tell them.

As she greeted Luna, who, judging by the violent accidental magic, was Banner, she wondered how much she could... how did Stark put it? Troll? Yes, she wondered how much she could troll them.

xXx

Harry paused and blinked, breathing deeply. Well... that explained his dreams, though now they made more sense. Every time a name was skimmed over was filled in and all the little details that didn't get shown apeared in order. He smiled a bit. It seemed that it was destiny for him to be a part of a new culture that he didn't quite understand. He shook his head and focused back into the conversation that had slowed when he was in his daze.

The attack had an effect on Hermione. It was quite usual for Hermione to spend a lot of time reading when she wasn't debating with Draco or just hanging out with Neville, but she was now doing almost nothing else. Nor could the group get much response from her when they asked what she was up to, and not until the following Wednesday did they find out.

Harry had been held back in Potions, where Snape (the bully) had made him stay behind to scrape tubeworms off the desks. After a hurried lunch, he went upstairs to meet Ron in the library, and saw Justin Finch- Fletchley, the Hufflepuff boy from Herbology, coming toward him. Harry had just opened his mouth to say hello when Justin caught sight of him, turned abruptly, and sped off in the opposite direction. Harry's mouth clamped shut, cunfused but hurt.

Harry found the others at the back of the library, where they quickly deemed as their hang out spot. Ron was measuring his History of Magic homework, while Draco was still writing his. Professor Binns had asked for a threefoot-long composition on "The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards."

"I don't believe it, I'm still eight inches short..." said Ron furiously, letting go of his parchment, which sprang back into a roll. "And Hermione's done four feet seven inches and her writing's tiny."

"At least you're almost done." Draco muttered. "God, I hate history."

"Since when do you say 'god'?" Neville asked. Draco just shrugged as he speed-wrote his essay.

"Where is Hermione?" asked Harry, grabbing the tape measure and unrolling his own homework.

"Somewhere over there," said Ron, pointing along the shelves. "Looking for another book. I think she's trying to read the whole library before Christmas."

"Something's the matter." Neville said. "She's looking for something..." He trailed off and contiued to read his book. Harry bent his head a bit to catch the title. Uses of Archery. Huh. Was it just destiny for him to make friends similar?

Harry shook his head to get rid of those thoughts and told the three about Justin Finch-Fletchley running away from him.

"Dunno why you care. I thought he was a bit of an idiot," said Ron, scribbling away, making his writing as large as possible. "All that junk about Lockhart being so great -"

Hermione emerged from between the bookshelves. She looked irritable and at last seemed ready to talk to them.

"All the copies of Hogwarts, A History have been taken out," she said, sitting down next to Harry and Ron. "And there's a two-week waiting list. I wish I hadn't left my copy at home, but I couldn't fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books."

"One," Draco said, finally looking up. "Lockhart is an idiot. You shouldn't of bothered. If you say anything else on the subject of him being great, I'll make an argument about how some of his books don't fit into the correct timeline. Two, I own a copy. I can lend it to you, you know."

"Why do you want it?" said Harry.

"The same reason everyone else wants it," said Hermione, "to read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets."

"I already told you about it though." Draco whined.

"I know, but I wanted read about it myself." She said.

"Hermione, let me read your composition," said Ron desperately, checking his watch. Draco had magicly finished his in the last five minutes and was puting away all of his things. Neville was over the door, checking his book out.

"No, I won't," said Hermione, suddenly blank and glaring at the same time. "You've had ten days to finish it -"

"I only need another two inches, come on -"

The bell rang. Ron and Hermione led the way to History of Magic, bickering.

xXx

And within five minutes, the class had sunk back into its usual torpor.

"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony," Ron told Harry, Neville, and Hermione as they fought their way through the teeming corridors at the end of the lesson to drop off their bags before dinner. Draco, of course, had to go to his own dorm and ad already told them he was going to hang out with his slytherin friends for the night. "But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd've got the train straight back home. I mean, Draco is great and all but he just seems different then the others."

Neville nodded fervently, Hermione just rolled her eyes, but Harry didn't say anything. His stomach had just dropped unpleasantly.

Harry had never told them that the Sorting Hat had seriously considered putting him in Slytherin. He didn't know if it would make a difference but he still didn't say anything. He didn't want to risk losing his friends. As they were shunted along in the throng, Colin Creevy went past.

"Hiya, Harry!"

"Hullo, Colin," said Harry automatically, falling back into the habit of talking to reporters... or an overexcited Coulson. He was never as good at it as Tony, but he still had his fair share of practice with them and Coulson was rarely this... fanboy-y, but it still happened.

"Harry - Harry - a boy in my class has been saying you're-"

But Colin was so small he couldn~t fight against the tide of people bearing him toward the Great Hall; they heard him squeak, "See you, Harry!" and he was gone.

"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione wondered.

"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect," said Harry, his stomach dropping another inch or so as he suddenly remembered the way Justin Finch- Fletchley had run away from him at lunchtime.

"People here'll believe anything," said Ron in disgust.

The crowd thinned and they were able to climb the next staircase without difficulty.

"D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" Neville asked Hermione.

"I don't know," she said, frowning. "Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be - well - human."

"There is always a bit of truth in myth." Ron said. "There was something like the chamber at one point or another, but thats all I got."

As she spoke, they turned a corner and found themselves at the end of the very corridor where the attack had happened. They stopped and looked. The scene was just as it had been that night, except that there was no stiff cat hanging from the torch bracket, and an empty chair stood against the wall bearing the message "The Chamber of Secrets has been Opened."

"That's where Filch has been keeping guard," Ron muttered.

They looked at each other. The corridor was deserted.

"Can't hurt to have a poke around," said Neville, dropping his bag and getting to his hands and knees so that he could crawl along, searching for clues.

"Scorch marks!" he said. "Here - and here -"

"Come and look at this!" said Hermione. "This is funny . . . ."

Harry got up and crossed to the window next to the message on the wall. Hermione was pointing at the topmost pane, where around twenty spiders were scuttling, apparently fighting to get through a small crack. A long, silvery thread was dangling like a rope, as though they had all climbed it in their hurry to get outside.

"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" said Hermione, eyes narrowed.

"Never..." Neville said.

"No," said Harry, "have you, Ron? Ron?"

He looked over his shoulder. Ron was standing well back and seemed to be fighting the impulse to run.

"What's up?" said Harry.

"I - don't - like - spiders," said Ron tensely.

"I never knew that," said Hermione, looking at Ron in surprise. "You've used spiders in Potions loads of times."

"I don't mind them dead," said Ron, who was carefully looking anywhere but at the window. "I just don't like the way they move."

Hermione laughed suddenly, as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Harry had to wonder what the inside joke was.

"It's not funny," said Ron, fiercely. "Its not a fear fit for a-" He cut himself off and shook his head. "If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my - my teddy bear into a great big fiIthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick ... You wouldn't like them either if you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and. . . " He broke off, shuddering. "Ginny sure had a laugh."

Hermione was obviously trying not to laugh more. Feeling they had better get off the subject, Harry said, "Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from? Someone's mopped it up."

"It was about here," said Neville, walking a few paces past Filch's chair and pointing. "Level with this door."

He reached for the brass doorknob but suddenly Ron grabbed his wrist.

"What's the matter?" said Harry.

"Can't go in there," said Ron gruffly. "That's a girls' toilet."

"Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there," said Hermione, standing up and coming over. "That's Moaning Myrtle's place. Come on, let's have a look." And ignoring the large OUT of ORDER sign, she opened the door.

xXx

Harry, Neville, and Ron stood with their mouths open, but Hermione shrugged wearily and said, "Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle ... Come on, let's go."

Harry had barely closed the door on Myrtle's gurgling sobs when a loud voice made three of them jump and Ron wince.

"RON!"

Percy Weasley had stopped dead at the head of the stairs, prefect badge agleam, an expression of complete shock on his face.

"That's a girls' bathroom!" he gasped. "What were you -?"

"Just having a look around," Ron shrugged. He did not want to deal with his brothers right then. It was bad enough that he was reincarnated. He was already beating himself over not paying attention to his brother (Loki, not the twins, Percy, Bill, or Charlie) when he was learning about it, so he didn't know if it was just him or not. Even worse, he was still beating himself up over the entire Loki situation and his (New? Current? He didn't know how to classify them) family right now. "Clues, you know. not to mention having a conversation with the ghost that lives in there."

Percy swelled in a attempt of coping their mum. Not for the first time, Ron wondered which of his mums' would win, even though he knew logicly that Frigga was stronger.

"Get - away - from - there -" Perry said, striding toward them and starting to bustle them along, flapping his arms. "Don't you care what this looks like? Coming back here while everyone's at dinner -"

"Why shouldn't we be here?" said Ron hotly, stopping short and glaring at Percy. He really hated the feeling of an older sibling looking down on him. He hoped that it was just something he develped because he was used to being the older sibling and that it was not normal, because then he would feel worse about Loki. "Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!"

"That's what I told Ginny," said Percy fiercely, "but she still seems to think you're going to be expelled, I've never seen her so upset, crying her eyes out, you might think of her, all the first years are thoroughly overexcited by this business -"

What was he even talking about? Ginny hadn't been upset since the day after. She actually seemed better, slightly, in the few apperances he had seen her in the past week or so. She even was able to talk normally to Harry. Yes, Ginny was a bit upset of the fact that something had attacked but that was it. Did Percy really not pay attention enough to tell the difference between reasons? The thought made Ron's big brother instict burn brighter and his temper came out to play.

"You don't care about Ginny," said Ron, whose ears were now reddening. "You're just worried I'm going to mess up your chances of being Head Boy -"

"Five points from Gryffindor!" Percy said tersely, fingering his prefect badge. "And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more detective work, or I'll write to Mum!"

And he strode off, the back of his neck as red as Ron's ears.

xXx

Harry, Ron, Neville, and Hermione chose seats as far as possible from Percy in the common room that night. Ron was still in a very bad temper and kept blotting his Charms homework. When he reached absently for his wand to remove the smudges, it ignited the parchment. Fuming almost as much as his homework, Ron slammed The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 shut. To Neville's surprise, Hermione followed suit.

"Who can it be, though?" she said in a quiet voice, as though continuing a conversation they had just been having. "Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"

"Let's think," said Neville in mock puzzlement, shutting his book. He is... er, was Clint Freaking Barton and he would be damned if he was going to let the oppertunity for more trick arrows with magic slip through. But noe was not the time nor the place. "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"

He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.

"Your gonna have to be more detailed, thats most of Slytherin -"

"Thats what I mean!" said Neville. "You heard can hear them whispering - `I wonder whose next', 'You'll be next, Mudbloods!', 'At least we're safe!'- come on, it could be any of them-"

"So how do we figure it out?" said Hermione skeptically.

"I don't think we can," said Harry, closing his books, too. "We don't have any leads. We have no way to go forward."

Neville, out of habit, glanced at Hermione. She had so many of Natasha's little quirks, that he could read her easily, and right now she had an idea. He smirked and caught her eye, motioning her to go forward. Hermione, in response, just rolled her eyes, but started talking anyway.

"I have an idea, but I need to warn you first." She said. "It's going to be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect -"

"If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?" said Ron irritably. Neville could tell he was still fumming about the fight he had with his brotherHe made a mental note of letting him copy his charms homework. The boy needed a break.

"All right," said Hermione coldly. "What we'd need to do is to get inside the Slytherin common room, with the help of Draco, and look for clues without people realizing it's us."

"But that's impossible," Harry said as Ron laughed.

"I'm sure there's magic that will make you look like someone else." Ron said, eyes glazing over slightly, as if rememboring something, though Neville wasn't quite sure what.

"Ya, there is, but spells like that need to much power," said Hermione. "All we'd need would be some Polyjuice Potion."

xXx

Lockhart, Hermione decided, was an idiot, which was a far cry then what she thought a week ago.

When she first got her memories back, she actually suppressed alot of the earlier memories, instead focusing on the memories of everything from Clint finding her to the explosion, which made it easy for the Hermione-fan girl part stay on top. But after Draco (who both annoyed her and gave her a challenge) decided to give her an argument on how the timeline of the blond teacher's books didn't add up, she realized just how stupid her childish crush really was.

Now, since the disastrous episode of the pixies, Lockhart had not brought live creatures to class. Instead, he read passages from his books to them, and sometimes reenacted some of the more dramatic bits. He usually picked Harry to help him with these reconstructions; so far, Harry had been forced to play a simple Transylvanian villager whom Lockhart had cured of a Babbling Curse, a yeti with a head cold, and a vampire who had been unable to eat anything except lettuce since Lockhart had dealt with him. Hermione, meanwhile, couldn't help but think of Dracula and that horrible time when she was made a vampire. She couldn't remember it, not really, but just the gap in her memory made it bad to her.

"Nice loud howl, Harry - exactly - and then, if you'll believe it, I pounced - like this - slammed him to the floor - thus with one hand, I managed to hold him down - with my other, I put my wand to his throat -I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm - he let out a piteous moan - go on, Harry - higher than that - good - the fur vanished - the fangs shrank - and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective - and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks."

The bell rang and Lockhart got to his feet.

"Homework - compose a poem about my defeat of the Wagga Wagga Werewolf! Signed copies of Magical Me to the author of the best one!"

And there was one peice of homework she would not do.

The class began to leave. Hermione watched as Harry returned to the back of the room, where Ron, Neville, and she were waiting.

"Ready?" Harry muttered.

"Wait till everyone's gone," said Hermione determined. "All right . . . "

She approached Lockhart's desk, a piece of paper clutched tightly in her hand, Harry and Ron right behind her, with Neville out the door, making sure no other teachers that need tp talk to Lockhart was going to.

"Er - Professor Lockhart?" Hermione stammered, easiler acting. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Neville smirking. She was oddly glad that she was the only one to see him smirk so far. "I wanted to - to get this book out of the library. Just for background reading." She held out the piece of paper, her hand shaking slightly for good measure. "But the thing is, it's in the Restricted Section of the library, so I need a teacher to sign for it - I'm sure it would help me understand what you say in Gadding with Ghouls about slow-acting venoms!"

"Ah, Gadding with Ghouls!" said Lockhart, taking the note from Hermione and smiling widely at her. "Possibly my very favorite book. You enjoyed it?"

"Oh, yes," said Hermione eagerly. It was good for fiction, anyway. "So clever, the way you trapped that last one with the tea-strainer -"

"Well, I'm sure no one will mind me giving the best student of the year a little extra help," said Lockhart warmly, and he pulled out an enormous peacock quill. "Yes, nice, isn't it?" he said, misreading the revolted look on Ron's face. "I usually save it for book-signings."

Hermione easily sniffled laughed at Neville's reaction the quill. Lockhart scrawled an enormous loopy signature on the note and handed it back to Hermione.

"So, Harry," said Lockhart, while Hermione folded the note with fumbling fingers and slipped it into her bag. "Tomorrow's the first Quidditch match of the season, I believe? Gryffindor against Slytherin, is it not? I hear you're a useful player. I was a Seeker, too. I was asked to try for the National Squad, but preferred to dedicate my life to the eradication of the Dark Forces. Still, if-"

Hermione grabbed Ron and left Harry to his fate at that point.

xXx

Five minutes later, after getting Draco and explaining the situation to him, they were barricaded in Moaning Myrtle's out-of- order bathroom once again. Hermione had overridden Ron's objections by pointing out that it was the last place anyone in their right minds would go, so they were guaranteed some privacy. Moaning Myrtle was crying noisily in her stall, but they were ignoring her, and she them.

Draco just opened the book, Moste Potente Potions, and the three of them, being him, Hermione, and Ron (who had the surprising ability at potions when Snape wasn't freaking them out) bent over the damp-spotted pages. It was clear from a glance why it belonged in the Restricted Section. Some of the potions had effects almost too gruesome to think about, and there were some very unpleasant illustrations, which included a man who seemed to have been turned inside out and a witch sprouting several extra pairs of arms out of her head.

All in all, it made him curious and it made him miss Jarvis. He had stopped himself multiple times in the past week from calling out to Jarvis, and now he wouldn't be able to multitask as well.

"Here it is," said Hermione excitedly as she found the page headed The Polyjuice Potion. It was decorated with drawings of people halfway through transforming into other people.

"Intense looks of pain..." Draco said sarcasicly. "I'm sure that broods well."

"This is the most complicated potion I've ever seen," said Hermione as they scanned the recipe, ignoring Draco. "Lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, and knotgrass," she murmured, running her finger down the list of ingredients. "Well, they're easy enough, they're in the student store- cupboard, we can help ourselves ... Oooh, look, powdered horn of a bicorn - don't know where we're going to get that - shredded skin of a boomslang -. that'll be tricky, too and of course a bit of whoever we want to change into."

"I can order it... maybe." Draco said. "Or I might just need to sneak some out of Snape's potion cupboard."

"Wait, what do you mean, 'a bit of whoever we want to change into'?" said Ron sharply. "What d'you mean, a bit of whoever we're changing into? I'm drinking nothing with Crabbe's toenails in it -"

"Calm down, Point Break." Draco rolled his eyes. "We only need a bit of DNA, like a hair. Nothing too gross."

"We don't have to worry about that yet, though, because we add those bits last ..." Hermione just contiued muttering.

"How long will it take to make, anyway?" said Harry as Neville apperently decided that keeping watch was redunant, as they were in the bathroom for that reason, and came over to sit with them.

"Well, since the fluxweed has got to be picked at the full moon and the lacewings have got to be stewed for twenty-one days ... I'd say it'd be ready in about a month, if we can get all the ingredients."

"Eariler then I thought." Neville commented. "I could get one or two of those ingridents from the greenhouses." He smiled, somehow making it look like a smirk yet not. Draco was proud, but had to wonder when their resident shy boy came out of his shell so much. "It pays to be Professor Sprout's top student for the year!"

xXx

Luna Love good was a creature of habit.

Luna sighed as she woke up. It was Saturday, and she would of loved to sleep in, but old habits die hard. In this life, and the last, she was an early riser, something that was renforced by being in the run.

She sat up and noticed without surprise that most of her dormmates where still asleep. They usually were at this time. As she got up and started to gather her clothes, her mind awoke with theories of locations for magical animals, and which charms could be altered to do which, and, now since her memories where back, theories on how radiation might affect magic. It was nothing new for her, in either life. It was alot like Tony, she mused, but she was quieter about it. Her mind jumped from one thing to another without much thought, that was, until she got to her shoes.

Which were not there.

Since she had gotten her memories back, she had been trying to break the habit of hiding within herself. She had no need to, and she never really had as Luna. But with Bruce Banner's memories, not to mention the bullying she recived from the other Ravenclaws that was so easy to ignore before, it became easy to do so.

Something that was happening now. She sighed again and squashed her anger before it could even reach ticked phase out of habit. Even without the Hulk here, something she hoped would not happen again, her magic could become violent when she got angry. It wasn't as... hair trigger as the Hulk's transformation but she still did it out of habit.

So, with only a slight annoyed sigh in the direction of her dormmates, she got up, dress quickly, and headed barefoot to the Gryffindor Tower. Ginny had an extra pair of shoes for her to wear when this happened.

She walked up to the Fat Lady, and said the password that Luna had given her. After the 3rd time or so, Ginny just gave her the password, so she didn't have to wait until breakfest to get some new shoes, robes, ties, or anything else they took from her. She walked in and sat down in the corner, before getting out her parchment and squibbing down notes.

It was about 10 when Ginny came down. She paused when she saw her, though how the redhead spotted her in the corner, with the other teens milling around. She watched as Ginny looked her ove, stop at her feet, before disappearing back up the stairs. She was only gone a moment before she reappeared with a pair of shoes and headed over with a smile. Luna smiled back.

"Thanks, Ginny." Luna said, easily falling back into the dreamy state of voice she had since she was young, as she took the shoes from her friend's hand.

"Welcome." Ginny answered and she sat infront of her. "Why don't you tell someone? Like your Head of House. This is the 5th time since you got here, Luna."

"I know." She said, smile turning a bit nervous. "I... I don't want to cause trouble, and telling on them won't really help. You know that."

Ginny nodded and sighed. "I know..." She suddenly smirked and got up. Luna blinked and the smirk turned into a smile before the blond could comment. Ginny held out her hand. "Come on. It's Quidditch day, and if we hurry, we can grab some breakfest before the match starts!"

Luna laughed and grasped her friend's hand, letting her pull her up. "Ya, ok. Sounds great."

But then she noticed. Noticed how tired Ginny looked, and how pale she was. She thought briefly about asking as she followed her out the door, but decided against it. It was Saturday after all. Ginny prouably staed up half the night. It's fine.

xXx

As eleven o'clock approached, the whole school started to make its way down to the Quidditch stadium. It was a muggy sort of day with a hint of thunder in the air. It didn't take long for Ginny to spot Neville up in the stands, or her brother and Hermione wishing Harry good luck as he entered the locker rooms. She started to walk over to the black haired boy, intending to sit with her brother and his friends (Well, his friends except Draco, who was cheering on his own team from their side of the stands), and she knew Luna would follow her up there.

She didn't know how it happened, but Luna had become her best friend. She didn't like Banner, no doubt due to large part of that dull creature that lived within him, but having met Luna on much better terms had caused her to see how likible she could have found him. Oh, well. Fate's a bitch and all that. They were enemies, never to beome friends then, and, honestly, once Luna realized who she was, they weren't likely to stay friends. She knew and braced hreself for it, making sure she didn't care by the time end of the year came, when she promised to tell them.

She was good at lying, even at herself.

But now, right now, Luna was her best friend, and for those dormmates of her to do that to her was unforgivable. Luna was her friend, those girls need to learn not to mess with the God of Mischief.

Er.. former God of Mischief. Eh, tomato, tamahto.

xXx

_**Thank you for the reviews! Can I have somemore?**_

_**By the way, no Fury is not here. The only other people other then the Avengers and Loki is someone you don't know yet, and maybe the Winter Soldier. **_

_**Do you want the Winter soldier? He would be in Bucky mode, just so you know. If you do, who do you want him as?**_

_**Who can guess the other person is? Come on, can ya? Can ya? XP**_


	4. Chapter 4

Hours and hours later, after being hit by a bugger, Harry woke quite suddenly in the pitch blackness and gave a small yelp of pain: His arm now felt full of large splinters. For a second, he thought that was what had woken him. Then, with a thrill of horror, he realized that someone was sponging his forehead in the dark, and his training came back into play. He used his good arm, causing pain to shoot up his bad one, to knock the intruder away. It took him a moment, but he realized that it was a certain elf that had visited him before the school year.

"You!" He hissed.

The house-elf's goggling tennis ball eyes were peering at Harry through the darkness. A single tear was running down his long, pointed nose.

"Harry Potter came back to school," he whispered miserably. "Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter. Ah sir, why didn't you heed Dobby? Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?"

Ok, so his name was Dobby. How he managed their last conversation without mentioning his name was lost on Harry.

Harry heaved himself up on his pillows and glared at Dobby as the elf heaved himself back on the bed.

"What're you doing here?" he said. "Wait- how did you know I missed the train? Was.. Was that you?!"

Dobby's lip trembled and Harry was seized by a sudden suspicion.

"It was you!" he said slowly. "You stopped the barrier from letting us through!"

"Indeed yes, sir," said Dobby, nodding his head vigorously, ears flapping. "Dobby hid and watched for Harry Potter and sealed the gateway and Dobby had to iron his hands afterward" - he showed Harry ten long, bandaged fingers - "but Dobby didn't care, sir, for he thought Harry Potter was safe, and never did Dobby dream that Harry Potter would get to school another way!"

"Look, you're doing more damage then whatever threatens me!" Harry hissed. "I may not like it, but I prouably dealed with worse!" What was worse then Hydra, alien invasions, and super humans?

Dobby was rocking backward and forward, shaking his ugly head.

"Dobby's master is causing trouble! Dobby can't let his master hurt Harry Potter..."

Harry groaned and slumped back onto his pillows.

"You nearly got Ron and me expelled," he said fiercely.

"It was the only time Dobby was sure Young Master wasn't with you!" Dobby yelped at his sudden forcefulness.

"You'd better get lost before my bo- Wait," He cut himself off. "Young Master? He's one of my friends? Ron doesn't have a house elf, and Neville doesn't have a male realtive, I don't think... Are you the Malfoy's elf?"

"Please don't tell Young Master!" Dobby squeaked, looking terriffed. "Young Master's nicer then Master but he will still tell Master that Dobby's been a bad bad elf!" He started to figet with the filthy pillowcase he wore, looking so pathetic that Harry felt his anger ebb away in spite of himself. Not to metion he looked half a second away from hitting himself again, that Harry just had to change the subject. That wasn't to say, however, that he wasn't going to talk to Draco later.

"Why d'you wear that thing, Dobby?" he asked curiously.

"This, sir?" said Dobby, plucking at the pillowcase. "'Tis a mark of the house-elf's enslavement, sir. Dobby can only be freed if his masters present him with clothes, sir. The family is careful not to pass Dobby even a sock, sir, for then he would be free to leave their house forever."

Dobby mopped his bulging eyes and said suddenly, "Harry Potter must go home! Dobby thought his Bludger would be enough to make -"

"Your Bludger?" said Harry, anger rising once more. Here he was, blaming himself. Though, he still could partly blame himself, as he lift him arm for a shield out of habit. "What d'you mean, your Bludger? You made that Bludger try and kill me?"

"Not kill you, sir, never kill you!" said Dobby, shocked. "Dobby wants to save Harry Potter's life! Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here sir! Dobby only wanted Harry Potter hurt enough to be sent home!"

"Why do you care so much!?" said Harry angrily. "Why would you disobey Malfoy to hurt me?!"

"Ah, if Harry Potter only knew!" Dobby groaned, more tears dripping onto his ragged pillowcase. "If he knew what he means to us, to the lowly, the enslaved, we dregs of the magical world! Dobby remembers how it was when He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was at the height of his powers, sir! We house-elfs were treated like vermin, sir! Of course, Dobby is still treated like that, sir," he admitted, drying his face on the pillowcase. "But mostly, sir, life has improved for my kind since you triumphed over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Harry Potter survived, and the Dark Lord's power was broken, and it was a new dawn, sir, and Harry Potter shone like a beacon of hope for those of us who thought the Dark days would never end, sit... And now, at Hogwarts, terrible things are to happen, are perhaps happening already, and Dobby cannot let Harry Potter stay here now that history is to repeat itself, now that the Chamber of Secrets is open once more!"

Dobby froze, horrorstruck, then grabbed Harry's water jug from his bedside table and cracked it over his own head, toppling out of sight. A second later, he crawled back onto the bed, cross-eyed, muttering, "Bad Dobby, very bad Dobby. . ."

"So there is a Chamber of Secrets?" Harry whispered. "And did you say it's been opened before? Tell me, Dobby!" He seized the elf's bony wrist as Dobby's hand inched toward the water jug. "I need this information Dobby. I'm not leaving. I doubt that my realtives will let me back before summer. I need to know what I'm up against!"

"Ah, sir, ask no more, ask no more of poor Dobby," stammered the elf, his eyes huge in the dark. "Dark deeds are planned in this place, but Harry Potter must not be here when they happen - go home, Harry Potter, go home. Harry Potter must not meddle in this, sir, 'tis too dangerous -" Dobby suddenly froze, his bat ears quivering. Harry heard it, too. There were footsteps coming down the passageway outside.

"Dobby must go!" breathed the elf, terrified. There was a loud crack, and the elf was gone. He slumped back into bed, his eyes on the dark doorway to the hospital wing as the footsteps drew nearer. Next moment, Dumbledore was backing into the dormitory, wearing a long woolly dressing gown and a nightcap. He was carrying one end of what looked like a statue. Professor McGonagall appeared a second later, carrying its feet. Together, they heaved it onto a bed.

"Get Madam Pomfrey," whispered Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall hurried past the end of Harry's bed out of sight. Harry lay quite still, pretending to be asleep. He heard urgent voices, and then Professor McGonagall swept back into view, closely followed by Madam Pomfrey, who was pulling a cardigan on over her nightdress. He heard a sharp intake of breath.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore, bending over the statue on the bed.

"Another attack," said Dumbledore. "Minerva found him on the stairs.

"There was a bunch of grapes next to him, and this cloak," said Professor McGonagall, holding out the cloak. His cloak, his invisiblity cloak. It made him feel bad, because if they were using his cloak, then it had to be one of his friends, and the only ones that could get it in the middle of the night were Ron or Neville and they must of been using it to sneak in here and- He took a deep breath, calming down. "We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter."

Harry's stomach gave a horrible lurch. Slowly and carefully, he raised himself a few inches so he could look at the statue on the bed. A ray of moonlight lay across its staring face. His eyes were wide.

It was Neville. Harry's heart froze.

"Petrified?" whispered Madam Pomfrey.

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "But I shudder to think ... If Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate - who knows what might have -"

Idiot. That was the only thing Harry could really think. Idiot Idiot Idiot-why would you do this why did I show you my cloak-why-.

"What does this mean, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently.

"It means," said Dumbledore, "that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again."

Madam Pomfrey clapped a hand to her mouth. Professor McGonagall stared at Dumbledore.

"But, Albus ... surely ... who?" "The question is not who," said Dumbledore, his eyes on Colin. "The question is, how . . . ." And from what Harry could see of Professor McGonagall's shad owy face, she didn't understand this any better than he did.

xXx

Harry woke up on Sunday morning to find the dormitory blazing with winter sunlight and his arm reboned but very stiff. He sat up quickly and looked over at Neville's bed, but it had been blocked from view by the high curtains Harry had changed behind yesterday. Seeing that he was awake, Madam Pomfrey came bustling over with a breakfast tray and then began bending and stretching his arm and fingers.

"All in order," she said as he clumsily fed himself porridge lefthanded. "When you've finished eating, you may leave."

Harry dressed as quickly as he could, grabbed the cloak he noticed that was folded beside his bed, and hurried off to Gryffindor Tower, desperate to tell Ron and Hermione, the only two of the group he would prouably see today, about Neville and Dobby, but they weren't there. Harry left to look for them, wondering where they could have got to and feeling slightly panicy. After what happened to Neville, he felt he would feel that way when ever his friends were out of sight for a while.

As Harry passed the library, Percy Weasley strolled out of it, looking in far better spirits than last time they'd met.

"Oh, hello, Harry," he said. "Excellent flying yesterday, really excellent. Gryffindor has just taken the lead for the House Cup you earned fifty points!"

"You haven't seen Ron, Draco, or Hermione, have you?" said Harry.

"No, I haven't," said Percy, his smile fading. "I hope Ron's not in another girls' toilet ..."

Harry forced a laugh, slightly mad though he had no reason to be, watched Percy walk out of sight, and then headed straight for Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He couldn't see why they would be in there again, but after making sure that neither Filch nor any prefects were around, he opened the door and heard their voices coming from a locked stall.

"It's me," he said, closing the door behind him. There was a clunk, a splash, and a gasp from within the stall and he saw Hermione's eye peering through the keyhole.

"Harry!" she said. "You gave us such a fright - come in how's your arm?"

"Fine," said Harry, squeezing into the stall. An old cauldron was perched on the toilet, and a crackling from under the rim told Harry they had lit a fire beneath it. Conjuring up portable, waterproof fires was a speciality of Hermione's.

"We'd've come to meet you, but we decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion," Ron explained as Harry, with difficulty, locked the stall again. "We've decided this is the safest place to hide it."

"Have you seen Neville?" Hermione asked.

Harry winced but told them. Draco froze, Ron looked muderous, and Hermione gasped before Ron's example.

"The sooner we get a confession out of someone, the better," snarled Hermione.

"D'you know what I think? They were in such a foul temper after the Quidditch match, since their house lost, they took it out on Neville." Ron said, angerily. Draco stayed quiet, but put more agression into cutting the root.

"There's something else," said Harry, watching Hermione tearing bundles of knotgrass and throwing them into the potion. "Dobby came to visit me in the middle of the night."

"Dobby?" Draco paused and looked at him. "Why did my house elf come to you?"

"He was the elf that I told you about." Harry said. "The one that took my mail- and, apperantly, blocked the portal to the platform and sent that Blugger after me."

Ron, and Hermione looked up, amazed. Harry told them everything Dobby had told him - or hadn't told him. Hermione and Ron listened with their mouths open. Draco looked.. not quite annoyed, but that may just be because the anger from before hadn't quite faded.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" Hermione said.

"And this time, it's open because of something my dad did." Draco finished. He groaned as he hit his forehead. "Nothing can be easy."

"This settles it," said Ron in a triumphant voice. "Lucius Malfoy must've opened the Chamber when he was at school here and now he's told dear another Slytherin how to do it, since Draco is so close to us. It's obvious!"

"That... is such a jump from what we thought before," Draco said, putting the cut up roots into the cauldron. "But I can see where it sounds logical. I can't tell if I should correct you..."

"Wish Dobby'd told you what kind of monster's in there, though. I want to know how come nobody's noticed it sneaking around the school." Ron continued, ignoring Draco.

"Maybe it can make itself invisible," said Hermione, prodding leeches to the bottom of the cauldron. "Or maybe it can disguise itself - pretend to be a suit of armor or something - then it would be forever before we can find it-"

"Calm down Hermione." Draco said, before walking into the main bathroom. "Dobby!"

Dobby appeared with a pop in front of him. He already looked nervous, but one sight of Harry in the stall behind Draco, caused him to start wringing his ear.

"Young Master-Dobby is sorry. Dobby couldn't let Master hurt Harry Potter. Dobby deserves to be punished-"

"Dobby." Draco cut in. "It's... well, it's not fine, but I understand. I won't tell dad." Dobby paused in his rambling, already winding up to start hitting himself. "But, I need you to tell me what his plan was."

"Dobby only knows what Dobby overheard from Master." Dobby said. "Master is using a little black book to open the chamber. Master gave it to someone. Thats all Dobby knows!"

"Thats fine Dobby." Draco smiled, even though Harry was sure that he was still seething. One look, though, and Harry flashed back to all the fake smiles he had seen from Tony. Was that just a rich boy thing? "And remember, stop bothering Harry about going home. He's not leaving. We'll protect him, promise. Thats all I need."

Dobby, wringing his ear again, nodded and disappeared with a crack.

xXx

The news that Neville had been attacked and was now lying as though dead in the hospital wing had spread through the entire school by Monday morning. The air was suddenly thick with rumor and suspicion. The first years were now moving around the castle in tight-knit groups, as though scared they would be attacked if they ventured forth alone. Luna, a first year Ravenclaw if Harry remembered correctly, now stayed in the Gryffindore commen room more often then not, with Ginny. Percy had half-heartily gotten on to them the first time he noticed, but hadn't said a thing since, which seemed to have gotten Ron to stop being mad at him.

Ginny herself was both distraught and seemily annoyed, but Harry felt that Fred and George were going the wrong way about cheering her up. They were taking turns covering themselves with fur or boils and jumping out at her from behind statues. They only stopped when Percy, apoplectic with rage, told them he was going to write to Mrs. Weasley and tell her Ginny was having nightmares.

In the second week of December Professor McGonagall came around as usual, collecting names of those who would be staying at school for Christmas. Harry, Ron, and Hermione signed her list, and they knew Draco was too. The holidays would be the perfect time to use the Polyjuice Potion and try to worm a confession out of someone.

Unfortunately, the potion was only half finished. They still needed the bicorn horn and the boomslang skin, and the only place they were going to get them was from Snape's private stores, since Neville couldn't just ask Professor Sprout. Harry privately felt he'd rather face Slytherin's legendary monster than let Snape catch him robbing his office.

"What we need," said Hermione briskly as Thursday afternoon's double Potions lesson loomed nearer, "is a diversion. Then Draco can sneak into Snape's office and take what we need. If he's caught, Snape will do the least damage to him."

"That makes me feel wonderful." Draco muttered.

Harry and Ron just looked at her nervously.

"Calm down," Hermione continued in a matter-of-fact tone. "We'll cause enough mayhem to keep Snape busy for five minutes or so."

"Wish Ginny was in our class." Harry heard Ron mutter. "She's a master at mayhem."

Harry couldn't help be nervous. Deliberately causing mayhem in Snape's Potions class was about as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye.

Thursday afternoon's lesson came to soon for their liking. Harry's Swelling Solution was far too runny, but he had his mind on more important things. Ron, the better at potions out of the two of them, lukily was focused on their potion while he was waiting for Hermione's signal. After a moment, Hermione caught Harry's eye and nodded.

Harry ducked swiftly down behind his cauldron, pulled one of Fred's Filibuster fireworks out of his pocket, and gave it a quick prod with his wand. The firework began to fizz and sputter. Knowing he had only seconds, Harry straightened up, took aim, and lobbed it into the air; it landed right on target in Goyle's cauldron, while he saw Draco do the same to the other side of the room.

Both Goyle's and a Gryffindor boy names Dean's potions exploded, showering the whole class. People shrieked as splashes of the Swelling Solution hit them. Dean got a faceful and his nose began to swell like a balloon; Goyle blundered around, his hands over his eyes, which had expanded to the size of a dinner plate, luckily Draco and Hermione, the closest out of their group to the potions, duck and were safe,- Snape was trying to restore calm and find out what had happened. Through the confusion, Harry saw Draco slip quietly into Snape's office.

"Silence! SILENCE!" Snape roared. "Anyone who has been splashed, come here for a Deflating Draft - when I find out who did this -"

When everyone had taken a swig of antidote and the various swellings had subsided, Snape swept over to Goyle's cauldron and scooped out the twisted black remains of the firework. There was a sudden hush.

"If I ever find out who threw this," Snape whispered, "I shall make sure that person is expelled."

Harry arranged his face into what he hoped was a puzzled expression, though he could see Draco, who was back into position, doing a prouably better job. Snape was looking right at him, and the bell that rang ten minutes later could not have been more welcome.

xXx

At eight o'clock a week later, they hurried back to the Great Hall. The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.

"I wonder if they will teach us physical moves?" Hermione asked.

"I wonder who'll be teaching us?" said Ron as they edged into the chattering crowd. "Someone told me Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young - maybe it'll be him."

"As long as it's not -" Harry began, but he ended on a groan: Gilderoy Lockhart was walking onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum and accompanied by none other than Snape, wearing his usual black.

Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called ' "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works. Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Draco muttered.

Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Harry murmured, watching Snape baring his teeth.

"One - two - three -"

Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor.

Draco and some of the other Slytherins cheered, though Harry almost joined them before decided it would be too mean. Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end.

"Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. He contiued to blabble before noticing that Snape was looking murderous. "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me -"

They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Ron with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape reached Harry and Draco first.

"You two," he sneered. "You two are partners. And you, Miss Granger - you can partner Miss Bulstrode."

Draco shrugged at Hermione, who was walking towards a Slytherin girl who reminded Harry of a picture he'd seen in Holidays with Hags. She was large and square and her heavy jaw jutted aggressively. Hermione gave her a weak smile that she did not return, making Hermione glare. Harry shivered. Hermione's glares were scary, and it seemed that Bulstrode shared his opinon, judging by the look on her face.

"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And bow!"

Harry and Draco barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off each other. Habit on his part, he guess, of not taking his eyes off an enemy.

"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents - only to disarm them - we don't want any accidents - one ... two ... three -"

They shared a look on two and on three, Harry swung his wand high, but Draco was still faster, calling out a spell. His spell would of hit Harry, if he hadn't called up a shield in panic. He stumbled backword from the force, but the shield had done its work, and wasting no more time, Harry pointed his wand straight at Draco and shouted, "Rictusempra!"

A jet of silver light hit Draco in the stomach and he doubled up, wheezing.

"I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted in alarm over the heads of the battling crowd, as Draco sank to his knees; Harry had hit him with a Tickling Charm, and he could barely move for laughing. Harry hung back, with a vague feeling it would be unsporting to bewitch Draco while he was on the floor, but this was a mistake; gasping for breath, Malfoy pointed his wand him, choked, "Repulsi!" and the next second Harry was thrown back. He let his memories take control, and twisted to stop himself before he fell off the platform.

"Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart.

Harry gasped for breath, his body was not ready for that kind of work, Draco stopped laughing, and they were able to look up.

A haze of greenish smoke was hovering over the scene. Ron and Justin were sitting down, Ron saying sorry about what ever his broken wand did. Hermione and Millicent Bulstrode were still moving; Millicent had Hermione in a headlock and Hermione hissed before kicking one of her legs back, hitting the bigger girl's knee and causing her to let go. Hermione fell forward, gasping for breath and both Harry and Draco ran over to make sure she was ok.

"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go, Macmillan ... Careful there, Miss Fawcett ... Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second, Boot- I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the hall. He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. "Let's have a volunteer pair - Boot and Finch-Fletchley, how about you -"

"How about Potter, Professor Lockhart," said Snape, gliding over like a large and malevolent bat. "He seems to know the shielding spell well."Harry blushed. The only reason he knew that spell was because that was the first spell he looked up after he got his memories back, wanting something to replace his shield until he could get a new one. "So, how about Bulstrode and Potter?" said Snape with a twisted smile.

"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Harry and Bulstrode into the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room.

"Now, Harry," said Lockhart. "You seem to know what to do. Do you need any instruction?" Harry shook his head. "Alright then..."

Snape moved closer to Bulstrode, bent down, and whispered something in her ear. She smirked, too.

"Three - two - one - go!" Lockhart shouted.

Bulstrode raised her wand quickly and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"

The end of his wand exploded. Harry watched, aghast, as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between them, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor. Snape made a move to get rid of it, but Lockhart beat him to the punch. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike. Justin seemed somewhere between running and raising his wand.

Harry wasn't sure what made him do it. He wasn't even aware of deciding to do it. All he knew was that his legs were carrying him forward as though he was on casters and that he had shouted stupidly at the snake, "Leave him alone!" And miraculously - inexplicably - the snake slumped to the floor, docile as a thick, black garden hose, its eyes now on Harry. Harry felt the fear drain out of him. He knew the snake wouldn't attack anyone now, though how he knew it, he couldn't have explained.

He looked up at Justin, grinning, looking at Justin, expecting him to look relieved, puzzled, or even grateful-so he was confused when he was met with a look of fear and anger. Harry could only watch as Justin glared and ran out of the room.

xXx

_**Thank you for the reviews. Can I have some more?**_

**_Yes, Neville instead of Colin. Do you hate me?_**

**_Next chapter is Christmas and... I don't know, about most of the way into the year._**

_**About Bucky, I would like him in Harry's year or a year younger. The reincarnation, or at least how I have it, is that they wouldn't of gotten their memories back unless they were in the same room, which was the great hall. Any ideas?**_

_**And the second person thats gonna show up, isn't gonna show up until the end of the year, so keep guessing. Only one of you has got it so far~!**_


	5. Chapter 5

It was week later that they found Justin petrified.

The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick turned what had hitherto been nervousness into real panic. Curiously, it was Nearly Headless Nick's fate that seemed to worry people most. What could possibly do that to a ghost? people asked each other; what terrible power could harm someone who was already dead? There was almost a stampede to book seats on the Hogwarts Express so that students could go home for Christmas.

"At this rate, we'll be the only ones left," Ron told Harry and Hermione one night in the commen room. "Us, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. What a jolly holiday it's going to be."

"They aren't going to be the only ones in Slytherin." Hermione reminded him. "Alot of the uper years are staying."

But Hermione could see Harry was glad that most people were leaving. He was tired of people skirting around him in the corridors, something she could tell, even if he never told them flat out.

Fred and George, however, found all this very funny. They went out of their way to march ahead of Harry down the corridors, shouting, "Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through ...

Percy was deeply disapproving of this behavior, and told them so. The twins just laughed and contiued with their joke. Ginny didn't find it amusing either, but Hermione couldn't help but notice that her attention wasn't all there. She lloked pale and tired and the brunette debated whether or not she should mention it. After a bit, she decided that Ginny was prouably just stayed up to long working or just goofing off. Goodness knows she did it quite a bit last year. Once the newness of being a first year wore off, Ginny would be fine.

Though, Hermione couldn't say the same about those girls from Ravenclaw that Ginny kept giving the evil eye.

At last, though, the term ended, and a silence deep as the snow on the grounds descended on the castle. Hermione quite liked it, as it brought back rare good memories before Clint met her. It also gave her something to focus on other then Neville. Neville had replaced Clint, somehow, and for him to be taken away like that... It just made her burn with anger.

Christmas morning dawned, cold and white. Harry and Ron, the only ones left in their dormitory, were woken very early by Hermione, who burst in, fully dressed and carrying presents for them both. Ron grumbled about being woke up, but was silenced by the present Hermione sent his way.

"I've been up with Draco for nearly an hour, adding more lacewings to the potion. It's ready."

Harry sat up, suddenly wide awake.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," said Hermione, shifting Scabbers the rat so that she could sit down on the end of Ron's four-poster. "If we're going to do it, both me and Draco agree it should be tonight."

Harry and Ron, of course, agreed, though they did complainwhen they had barely finished their third helpings of Christmas pudding when Hermione and Draco ushered them out of the hall to finalize their plans for the evening.

"We still need a bit of the people you're changing into," said Draco. "It'll be best if you can get something of Crabbe's and Goyle's; they're not excatly stupid, persay, but nobody really wants to get to know them because they look stupid. Not many people would question if they act a little off, not to mention they're suppossed to be my friends according to my dad, so'll it would make sense if they follow me while inthe commen room."

"And we also need to make sure the real Crabbe and Goyle can't burst in on us while we're interrogating people." Hermione cut in. "But don't worry-I've got it all worked out," she went on smoothly, ignoring Draco's whining that he was going to make a big show about it. She held up two plump chocolate cakes. "I've filled these with a simple Sleeping Draught. All you have to do is make sure Crabbe and Goyle find them. You know how greedy they are, they're bound to eat them. Once they're asleep, pull out a few of their hairs and hide them in a broom closet."

Harry and Ron looked incredulously at each other.

"Hermione, I don't think -"

"Draco, that could go seriously wrong -"

"The potion will be useless without Crabbe's and Goyle's hair," she said sternly. "I did not just make a potion, breaking a million school rules, for you to back out now!"

"Oh, all right, all right," said Harry. "But what about you? Whose hair are you ripping out?"

"I've already got mine!" said Hermione brightly, pulling a tiny bottle out of her pocket and showing them the single hair inside it. "Draco got it from Millicent Bulstrode, the girl who was wrestling with me at the Dueling Club. She's gone home for Christmas - so I'll just have to tell the Slytherins I've decided to come back."

xXx

"Did you get them?" Hermione asked, later.

Harry showed her Goyle's hair.

"Good."

"I sneaked these spare robes out of the their trunks," Draco said, holding up a small sack. "You'll need bigger sizes once you're Crabbe and Goyle."

"I'm sure I've done everything right," said Hermione, nervously rereading the splotched page of Moste Potente Potions. "It looks like the book says it should ... once we've drunk it, we'll have exactly an hour before we change back into ourselves."

"I'll cover if you guys have to leave quickly." Draco said.

"Now what?" Ron whispered.

"We separate it into three glasses and add the hairs."

Hermione ladled large dollops of the potion into each of the glasses. Then, she shook Millicent Bulstrode's hair out of its bottle into the first glass. The potion hissed loudly like a boiling kettle and frothed madly. A second later, it had turned a sick sort of yellow. She then watched as Harry dropped Goyle's hair into the middle glass and Ron put Crabbe's into the last one. Both glasses hissed and frothed: Goyle's turned the khaki color of a booger, Crabbe's a dark, murky brown.

"Yuck." Draco said. "So glad I don't have to drink that..."

"Not helping Draco." Ron said, glaring slightly.

"Hang on," said Harry as Ron and Hermione reached for their glasses. "We'd better not all drink them in here ... Once we turn into Crabbe and Goyle we won't fit. And Millicent Bulstrode's no pixie."

"Good thinking," said Ron, unlocking the door. "We'll take separate stalls."

Hermione watched as the boys filed out, and took a deep breath. She hoped she did this right. Making potions was so not in her training!

"Ready?" she heard Harry call, and answered back along with Ron. "One - two - three -"

Pinching her nose, Hermione drank the potion down in two large gulps. It tasted like burnt meat. Immediately, her insides started writhing- doubled up, she wondered whether she was going to be sick - then a burning sensation spread rapidly from her stomach to the very ends of her fingers and toes - next, bringing her gasping to all fours, came a horrible melting feeling, as the skin all over her body bubbled like hot wax - but something was wrong.

Before her eyes, her nails grew and pointed, fur sprouted on the back of her knuckles and hand-a prickling on her face and forehead told her that hair was creeping down toward her eyebrows and along her nose- her nose stretched painfully, then the feeling of longer hair came on her cheeks- a painful throbbing on top of her head brought attention to the ears growing.

As suddenly as it had started, everything stopped. Hermione lay facedown on the stone-cold floor, listening to Myrtle gurgling morosely in the end toilet. She gasped and stood up, before shaking hands flew to her face and head. There... was hair. Fur, all along her face, ears on her head, and her nose and mouth was now a cat's face. She hissed, coming out a lost more animal-like then normal.

"Are you two okay?" Goyle's low rasp of a voice cam from her right..

"Yeah," came the deep grunt of Crabbe also from his right.

"Draco!" She cryed. "I am going to kill you!"

She heard both Harry's and Ron's doors unlock and open, at the same time she heard Draco cry out, "What?! What I do?!" She just stepped forward and slammed her door open.

xXx

Draco blinked and stepped back. He knew that tone of voice, from both Pepper and Natasha, and, more rarely, Pansy in this life. It was the 'Tony Stark/Draco Malfoy, I am more then just annoyed, I am furious and most things you say will prouably back fire on you horribly.' tone that only girls seem to get.

And now Hermione, the normally cool-headed brunette, was using it with him, and he didn't even know what he did!

"What?!" he whined. "What did I do?!"

He stepped back even farther what her door slammed open, barely even noticing Harry and Ron as Crabbe and Goyle as he took in Hermione's face.

Her face was covered in black fur. Her eyes had turned yellow and there were long, pointed ears poking through her hair.

She... she was a cat.

The hell?

"What the hell?" He asked, not really caring that he was gaping. He couldn't do much about it anyway.

"It was a cat hair!" she howled. "Millicent Bulstrode must have a cat! And the potion isn't supposed to be used for animal transformations!"

"Oh god-oh jeez-" Draco stammered, partly from the angerily girl and partly from the shock. "I didn't mean to-"

Hermione sighed. "It's fine. You couldn't of known. Just... go finish the plan. I'm going to go to the hospital wing."

xXx

The plan was a bust, and Hermione had to remaine in the hospital wing for several weeks. There was a flurry of rumor about her disappearance when the rest of the school arrived back from their Christmas holidays, because of course everyone thought that she had been attacked. So many students filed past the hospital wing trying to catch a glimpse of her that Madam Pomfrey took out her curtains again and placed them around Hermione's bed, to spare her the shame of being seen with a furry face.

Harry, Draco, and Ron went to visit her every evening. When the new term started, they brought her each day's homework. Finally, as more and more days went by with no whisper from the disembodied voice, they became hopeful that they would never need to talk to him about why he had been expelled. It was now nearly four months since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick had been Petrified, and nearly everybody seemed to think that the attacker, whoever it was, had retired for good. Peeves had finally got bored of his "Oh, Potter, you rotter" song, Ernie Macmillan asked Harry quite politely to pass a bucket of leaping toadstools in Herbology one day, and in March several of the Mandrakes threw a loud and raucous party in greenhouse three. This made Professor Sprout very happy.

Honestly, none of them knew what to do. They had no more leads. It could of very well been someone form Slytherin but their night of questioning didn't hold any results, and any attempts at questioning from Draco ended just as well. All they could do at this point was wait for the Mandrakes to get done and cure Neville and Justin.

The second years were given something new to think about during their Easter holidays. The time had come to choose their subjects for the third year. None of them could really decide. Finally, the four of them just picked the two Harry pointed at-which turned out to be Care of Magical Creatures and Magical Runes.

It wasn't until the first Quidditch match after Easter that something happened. They were walking toward the Gryffindor tower for Harry to pick up his gear when he heard it again.

"Kill this time ... let me rip ... tear. . ."

He shouted aloud and Ron and Hermione both jumped away from him in alarm and for Draco to almost stumble on a step behind him. "The voice!" said Harry, -looking over his shoulder. "I just heard it again - didn't you?"

Ron shook his head, wide-eyed, and Draco just looked around, puzzled. Hermione, however, clapped a hand to her forehead.

"Harry - I think I've just understood something! I've got to go to the library!"

And she sprinted away, up the stairs.

The boys looked at each other and shrugged before Draco started pushing Harry along, saying- "Come on, it's almost 11, the game remember?"

Of course, the game didn't last long. Harry was just mounting his broom when Professor McGonagall came half marching, half running across the pitch, carrying an enormous purple megaphone.

Harry's heart dropped like a stone, because after she anounced that the match had been canceled, she walked over to Harry and whispered how he needed to come with her. All he could do was nod, because he was trying to convince himself that what he was thinking was not happening. He followed her away from the field, and soon Draco and Ron had joined them, and the fact that the Professor didn't object made him worry more. If all three of them were needed, then it had to be someone they all knew. And the only ones that they were all close to were Neville and Hermione and Neville was already attacked then it must be-

"This will be a bit of a shock," said Professor McGonagall in a surprisingly gentle voice as they approached the infirmary. "There has been another attack ... another double attack."

Harry's insides did a horrible somersault. Professor McGonagall pushed the door open and the three entered. .

Madam Pomfrey was bending over a fifth-year girl with long, curly hair. And on the bed next to her was

"Hermione!" Ron groaned.

Hermione lay utterly still, her eyes open and glassy.

"No..." Draco muttered.

"They were found near the library," said Professor McGonagall. "I don't suppose either of you can explain this? It was on the floor next to them ..." She was holding up a small, circular mirror.

Harry and Ron shook their heads, both staring at Hermione. Draco looked at it more closely, as if on the verge of something, before sighing and shaking his head also.

"Mr. Malfoy, Madam Pomfrey will escort you back to the dungoens when she is done, and I will escort you two back to Gryffindor Tower," said Professor McGonagall heavily. "I need to address the students in any case.

They were even more lost then before. Hermione was attacked, and now two of their friends were laying in the hospital wing, looking dead. None of them knew what to do. Harry and Ron just sat around sadly, and Draco, the few times they got to talk to him, mostly in History of Magic, never really talked. He just kept muttering to himself, and Harry was afraid that he was going to run himself ragged on this.

Not that Harry was much better.

Of course, the kicker for Draco happened the day after Hermione's attack. Mr. Malfoy came, with the Minister of Magic, and arrested Hagrid. Normally, that would just cause alittle guilt, but since they knew for a fact that this was Mr. Malfoy's fault and Hagrid wasn't the culprit, it just made it worse. It got even worse when Mr. Malfoy kicked Dumbledore out of his job.

Finally, four days before their exam, Draco slammed the book he was reading on the table and groaned into his hands. It made the class look at him weirdly, but Binns just kept talking. Harry and Ron looked at him worriedly and Draco sighed and muttered. "I know Hermione figured out something, and i know I'm close to what she figured out, but i don't know what. If I could just figure it out, then Hagrid will get out of jail and Dumbledore will come back, but I can't."

Three days before their first exam, Professor McGonagall made another announcement at breakfast.

"I have good news," she said, and the Great Hall felp silent. "Professor Sprout has informed me that the Mandrakes are ready for cutting at last. Tonight, we will be able to revive those people who have been Petrified. I need hardly remind you all that one of them may well be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with our catching the culprit."

There was an explosion of cheering. Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and wasn't at all surprised to see that Draco had joined in. Ron was looking happier than he'd looked in days.

"Hermione'll probably have all the answers when they wake her up! And Neville will be ok too! Mind you, she'll go crazy when she finds out we've got exams in three days' time, and Neville will be mad he missed Christmas..."

Just then, Ginny Weasley came over and sat down next to Ron. She looked tense and nervous, and Harry noticed that her eyes were focused soley on her white hands, clenching in her lap.

"What's up?" said Ron, helping himself to more porridge.

Ginny didn't say anything, but glanced up at him with a calculating look, as if wondering if to tell him something, that reminded Harry of someone, though he couldn't think who.

"Are you ok, sister?" said Ron after a moment, watching her.

Harry suddenly realized who Ginny looked like. She was looking at Ron as if debating if it was worth telling him something, much like Loki always did when he had to team up with the Avengers on those rare occasions. Ginny drew a deep breath and, at that precise moment, Percy Weasley appeared, looking tired and wan.

"If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm starving, I've only just come off patrol duty."

Ginny jumped up as though her chair had just been electrified, gave Percy a fleeting, annoyed look, and walked away. Percy sat down and grabbed a mug from the center of the table.

"Percy!" said Ron angrily. "She was just about to tell us some-' thing important!"

Harry knew the whole mystery might be solved tomorrow without their help, but he still had a nagging feeling about what Hermione was doing when she got attacked and wanted a chance to go see her - and to his delight it did, midmorning, when the three were being led to History of Magic by Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Mark my words," he said, ushering them around a corner. "The first words out of those poor Petrified people's mouths will be It was Hagrid.' Frankly, I'm astounded Professor McGonagall thinks all these security measures are necessary."

"I agree, sir," said Draco, making Ron drop his books in surprise and Harry look at him swiftly, before catching that familiar look in his eyes. It was a look Harry had seen on Tony many a times when the inventor out-talked Fury. Harry now knew what he was doing, and quickly followed along.

"They should just listen to you, really Sir." He said, making Ron look at him next. "It would make things go smoother."

"Thank you, Harry, said Lockhart graciously while they waited for a long line of Hufflepuffs to pass. "I mean, we teachers have quite enough to be getting on with, without walking students to classes and standing guard all night-"

"That's right," said Ron, finally catching on. "Why don't you leave us here, sir, we've only got one more corridor to go -"

"You know, Weasley, I think I will," said Lockhart. "I really should go and prepare my next class -"

And he hurried off.

"Prepare his class," Draco sneered after him. "Gone to curl his hair, more like."

They let the rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins draw ahead of them, then darted down a side passage and hurried off toward the hosptial wing. They ended up telling Madam Pomfrey that they had Professor McGonagall's permission to visit Hermione. Madam Pomfrey let them in, but reluctantly.

"Wonder if she did see the attacker, though?" said Ron, looking sadly at Hermione's rigid face. "Because if he sneaked up on them all, no one'll ever know..."

But Harry wasn't looking at Hermione's face. He was more interested in her right hand. It lay clenched on top of her blankets, and bending closer, he saw that a piece of paper was scrunched inside her fist. Making sure that Madam Pomfrey was nowhere near, he pointed this out to Ron snd Draco. Getting it was no easy task. Hermione's hand was clamped so tightly around the paper that Harry was sure he was going to tear it. While Ron kept watch he and Draco tugged and twisted, and at last, after several tense minutes, the paper came free.

It was a page torn from a very old library book. Harry smoothed it out eagerly and Ron and Draco leaned close to read it, too. Of course, Harry only got a look at it before Draco grabbed it from his hand, smiling like an idiot.

"Yes! Yes, jeeze, Hermione, you got!" He cheered. "It's a basilisk!"

"What?" Ron asked.

"A basilisk! It's a snake, so of course Harry's the only one that could that could hear it, and it was moving through the pipes! The basilisk kills people by looking at them. But no one's died - because no one looked it straight in the eye. Neville saw it through the cloak. Justin . . . Justin must've seen the basilisk through Nearly Headless Nick! Nick got the full blast of it, but he couldn't die again . . . and Hermione and that Ravenclaw prefect were found with a mirror next to them. Hermione had just realized the monster was a basilisk. I bet you anything she warned the first person she met to look around corners with a mirror first! And that girl pulled out her mirror - and -"

Rons jaw had dropped, and Harry could see all of the logic.

"And Mrs. Norris?" Ron whispered eagerly.

Draco looked at Harry, as he was there longer then the blond, and Harry thought hard, picturing the scene on the night of Halloween.

"The water. . ." he said slowly. "The flood from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. I bet you Mrs. Norris only saw the reflection . . . ."

Draco just looked more and more excited. "It fits! It all fits!"

Ron suddenly grabbed Harry's arm. "The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!" he said hoarsely. "What if it's a bathroom? The victim 50 years ago was a girl in a bathroom. What if it's in -"

"-Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," said Harry. They sat there, excitement coursing through them, hardly able to believe it. "This means," said Harry, "I can't be the only Parselmouth in the school. The Heir of Slytherin's one, too. That's how he's been controlling the basilisk."

"What're we going to do?" said Ron, whose eyes were flashing. "Should we go straight to McGonagall?"

"Let's go to the staff room," said Draco, jumping up. "She'll be there in ten minutes. It's nearly break." They ran downstairs. Not wanting to be discovered hanging around in another corridor, they went straight into the deserted staff room. Harry and Ron paced around it, too excited to sit down, while Draco just hopped on the balls on his feet.

But the bell to signal break never came. Instead, echoing through the corridors came Professor McGonagall's voice, magically magnified. `All students to return to their House dormitories at once. All teach ers return to the staff room. Immediately, please. "

Harry wheeled around to stare at Ron. "Not another attack? Not now?"

"What'll we do?" said Ron, aghast. "Go back to the dormitory?"

"No," said Draco, glancing around. There was an ugly sort of wardrobe to his left, full of the teachers' cloaks. "In here. Let's hear what it's all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out."

So they hid themselves inside it, waiting for someone to come in. Soon the staff room door banged open. From between the musty folds of the cloaks, they watched the teachers filtering into the room. Some of them were looking puzzled, others downright scared. Then Professor McGonagall arrived.

"It has happened," she told the silent staff room. "A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."

Professor Flitwick let out a squeal. Professor Sprout clapped her hands over her mouth. Snape gripped the back of a chair very hard and said, "How can you be sure?"

"The Heir of Slytherin," said Professor McGonagall, who was very white, "left another message. Right underneath the first one. `Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever. "'

Professor Flitwick burst into tears.

"Who is it?" said Madam Hooch, who had sunk, weak-kneed, into a chair. "Which student?"

"Ginny Weasley," said Professor McGonagall.

Harry felt Ron tense. "What?" He heard him breath, only heard by him and Draco with how low he said it.

Harry listened to the teachers, though he was sure Ron wasn't and he couldn't tell what Draco was focusing on. Finally, the teachers left, and Ron ran out of the room. Harry and Draco looked at each other before following.

They found Ron out in the hallway, walking in the direction of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Wait-Ron!" Harry cried. "Where are you going?"

"To resuce my sister."


	6. Chapter 6

She had this completely under control.

Or, at least, thats what she kept telling herself.

She was a god for merlin's sake! A black book was not going to conrol her. Thanos was a fluke. Nothing is wrong.

When she first realized that the book had powerful magic, it was when Neville had been attacked. Yes, she already knew it was magic, with it's talking back and all that, but she never thought it was that powerful. Yes, she should have been asleep by then, but she rarely got to bed before midnight even before she got her memories back. So, when, one minute she was writing in it in her dorm room, with her dormmates asleep, and the next she was blinking in the sight of the commen room. A quick glance at the window showed that the moon had moved over the sky and that it has been a few hours. She never sleepwalks, so she knew she hadn't been asleep, not really, and then preceded to put two and two together and rip out the book and a quill to... 'yell' at Tom. That if she had another blackout she wouldn't hesitate to go straight to Dumbledore.

As it was, however, she didn't want to go to Dumbledore. She wanted to... disect the magic, and she couldn't do that until she got her full magic reserves back. Until then, she was going to have to settle for just questioning Tom.

She ignored the fact that she started to go to bed at around 10 out of exhuastion. Nothing was wrong.

When Justin was petified, she asked Tom if he knew anything, as he was from a time period of the last time the Chamber was open. He showed her how he outed Hagrid, of all people, as the attacker, though Ginny didn't believe him. For one, how the hell did that oaf of a gamekeeper that was friends with her brother and his friends do that? For two, how would a gaint spider petrify people? There was no spiders that she knew of that could do that. And lastly, she was the god of lies. She didn't need to be lied to her face to know that she was being lied to, and if she had a gut feeling that what she was seeing wasn't true, then damnit, she was going to follow it!

She didn't say anything when Hagrid was arrested. What was she going to say?

"He didn't do it! Oh, how do I know? Well, this diary showed me a memory of when it happened, and I have a gut feeling it wasn't true. Hm? Well, yes, soul magic is a type of dark magic..."

That would have gone over real well.

She finally admitted to herself that something was wrong when Hermione was attacked. Well, ok, it was after Hermione got petrified that she admitted it to herself. She was tired all the time at this point, and Luna had finally gotten up another nerve to ask her what was wrong. She couldn't lie to herself at this point. So she had to go to someone, but she didn't quite know who. There wasn't a teacher she trusted in this school, really, not many people she trusted here in general. The only people she trusted was Luna... and her brother. And she did not want to involve Luna in this. So, her brother and his friends it was.

She sat there, at breakfast, trying to work up the nerve to tell him. It, of course, didn't take him long to realize something was wrong with her and continued to ask what was wrong, and she didn't know if it was helping her spit it out or not. But, as soon as she opened her mouth, Percy had shown up and asked her to move. She lost all nerve, not that she would ever admit it, and quickly left the Great Hall.

She could figure something out, right?

It was a few days before the exams that it happened. She woke up, feeling even worse than what was normal now, and it just got worse as the day went on. She felt like her nerves were stretched to the breaking point, like when you wake up from a nightmare and the dark seems to move and you just can't calm down and any little thing would set you off crying. What set her off, near the end of the day, was, of course, Luna, asking her what was wrong. She just... broke, crying, and spilled everything that had happened.

She didn't know if she felt better or not. On one hand, it felt good to tell someone, and on the other hand, she suddenly felt worse and she felt the need to go and leave and she panicked and left.

Her last memory was of Luna calling out to her worriedly before everything went black.

xXx

_**That made sense, right? Loki and Ginny were both in character, right?**_


	7. Chapter 7

xXx

"She knew something, guys," said Ron, speaking for franticly as they walked carefully towards the bathroom. "That's why she was taken. It wasn't some stupid thing about Percy at all., She'd found out something about the Chamber of Secrets. That must be why she was -" Ron rubbed his eyes frantically. "I mean, she was a pure- blood. There can't be any other reason."

"Harry" whispered Draco, making sure Ron couldn't hear them. "D'you think there's any chance at all she's not - you know-"

Harry didn't know what to say. He couldn't see how Ginny could still be alive. But... she had to be. He didn't think Ron would be able to take it.

"What about Neville?" Harry almost jumped, and he was sure that Ron did. He was alot more out of it then Harry was. Whiping his head back to Ron infront of him, he saw that blond Ravenclaw that Ginny hangd out with, the one with the almost-permanent dreamy look. "He was a pure-blood too."

"Luna!" Ron yelped. "What are you doing here?!"

The girl frowned, her face clouding over. "Ginny came to me eariler, crying. She was ranting about a book controlling her and making her being the Heir. She ran after that, looking panicked, and I just knew she was the one that was taken. I wasn't sure where I was going to rescue her, but I saw you guys, so I figured you had an idea what to do."

By this time, they had entered the bathroom, and Ron had grabbed Harry and drug him forward, leaving Draco to explain everything to Luna. Harry gulped, and looked at the snake symbol on the sink.

"Open."

Ron shook his head. "That was english."

Harry sighed. It wasn't a real snake, and that was the only kind he had ever talked too. He took a deep breath and tried to pretend it was real.

_"Open"_

xXx

Harry approached, his throat very dry. There was no need to pretend these stone snakes were real; their eyes looked strangely alive.

He could guess what he had to do. He cleared his throat, and the emerald eyes seemed to flicker.

"Open, "said Harry, in a low, faint hiss.

The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Harry, shaking from head to foot, walked inside. He was standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.

His heart beating very fast, Harry stood listening to the chill silence. Could the basilisk be lurking in a shadowy corner, behind a pillar? And where was Ginny?

He pulled out his wand and moved forward between the serpentine columns. Every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadowy walls. He kept his eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the smallest sign of movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following him. More than once, with a jolt of the stomach, he thought he saw one stir.

Then, as he drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall.

Harry had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above: It was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. And between the feet, facedown, lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.

"Ginny!" Ron muttered, sprinting to her and dropping to his knees. "Sister - don't be dead - please don't be dead -" He flung his wand aside, grabbed Ginny's shoulders, and turned her over. Her face was white as marble, and as cold, yet her eyes were closed, so she wasn't Petrified. But then she must be. "Ginny, please wake up," Ron muttered desperately, shaking her. Ginny's head lolled hopelessly from side to side.

"She won't wake," said a soft voice.

Harry watched Ron jump and spin around on his knees, while he himself ran over to help, with Draco and Luna on his heels. A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching, and how they didn't notice him yet was worrying. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Harry were looking at him through a misted window.

"Who are you?" He asked, his want in front of him like a shield, part out of habit and part out of readiness to cast his shield spell. The boy focused automaticly on Harry and no one else, and it was more than a little creepy.

"My name is Tom Riddle." The boy said, not taking his eyes off Harry's face.

"What d'you mean, she won't wake?" Ron said desperately. "She's not - she's not -?"

"She's still alive," said Riddle. "But only just."

"Your robes-" Draco said, getting louder the more he talked. "They're Slytherin! And your prefect badge! I would reconize you if you went to school here."

"Smart." Riddle said. "You don't reconize me because I don't go here anymore."

"Tom Riddle..." Harry heard Ron mutter. "That sounds familiar..." He heard her gasp. "That name was on that reward! The one that was given out fifty years ago! I saw it during my detention!"

Harry stared at him. Tom Riddle had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago, yet here he stood, a weird, misty light shining about him, not a day older than sixteen.

"Are you a ghost?" Harry said uncertainly.

"A memory," said Riddle quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years.

He pointed toward the floor near the statue's giant toes. Lying open there was a little black diary. For a second, Harry wondered how it had got there - but there were more pressing matters to deal with.

"Are you here to help us Riddle," Harry said, slipping into his 'Captain America' voice. He saw the others glance at him, but didn't give it much thought. "Or are you doing this to her?"

Riddle didn't move. Luna did, grabbing his sleeve.

"Listen," said Luna urgently in his ear. "We've got to go! If the basilisk comes -"

"It won't come until it is called," said Riddle calmly.

"So you are the one who's doing this." Harry said, tightening his hold on his wand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Draco and Luna lift up their wands.

"I've waited a long time for this, Harry Potter," said Riddle, as if he didn't have three or so wands pointed at him. He grinned slightly. "For the chance to see you. To speak to you."

"How did this happen it my sister?" Ron said from behind him. Riddle smile widened.

"Well, that's an interesting question," said Riddle pleasantly. "And quite a long story. I suppose the real reason Ginny Weasley's like this is because she opened her heart and spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger."

"What are you talking about?" said Luna quietly.

"The diary," said Riddle. `My diary. Little Ginny's been writing in it for months and months, at first telling me all her pitiful worries and woes - how her brothers tease her, how she had to come to school with secondhand robes and books, how" -Riddle's eyes glinted "how she didn't think famous, good, great Harry Potter would ever like her . . . ."

All the time he spoke, Riddle's eyes never left Harry's face. There was an almost hungry look in them.

"It's very boring ar first, having to listen to the silly little troubles of an eleven- year-old girl," he went on. "But around Halloween, she changed. She stopped complaining to me, and started to question me about how the magic in the diary worked. Honestly, it was still boring, but I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind, at first, then I just answered her questions."

Riddle laughed, a high, cold laugh that didn't suit him. It made the hairs stand up on the back of Harry's neck.

"She didn't write quite what I wanted, tomake it easiest for me, but I still got the main thing. Her soul happened to be exactly what I wanted ... I grew stronger and stronger each time she wrote. I grew powerful, far more powerful than little Miss Weasley. Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her. . ."

"What d'you mean?" said Ron, very quiet, before yelling, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"Haven't you guessed yet, Ronald?" said Riddle softly, finally taking his eyes off of Harry to focus behind him. "Ginny Weasley opened the Chamber of Secrets. She strangled the school roosters and daubed threatening messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on two Mudbloods, that useless escuse of a pureblood, and the Squib's cat."

"No," Harry whispered.

"Yes," said Riddle, calmly. "Of course, she didn't know what she was doing at first. She didn't mention what happened on Halloween, to the cat, but the next time, with the useless pureblood, I got a lashing." He snickered. "It was very amusing. 'That blackout was you, don't deny it!'" he recited, watching all their horrified faces, "`Do it again, I'll tell Dumbledore!' Of course, I made sure not to do it again... when she would know about it. She either was an idiot, or self destructive, as she ignore any and all clues that it was still happening. She ignored the tiredness and the dizziness, and convinced herself that everything was fine."

Harry's fist were clenched, the nails digging deep into his palm, while his other hand tightened around his wand.

"It took a very long time for stupid little Ginny to stop lying herself," said Riddle. "It took Luna Lovegood ober there asking what was wrong for her to admit that something was wrong. She didn't do much about it, though. I;m pretty sure she tried to tell you, Ronald, but never went through to it, thenn she spill her heart out to Luna just a few short hours ago before I decided enough was enough. And, now... You're here, Harry Potter! The very person I wanted to meet . . ."

"And why did you want to meet me?" said Harry. Anger was coursing through him, and it was an effort to keep his voice steady. Draco was glaring and look about to yell some spell, and he didn't need to look at Luna to feel the angry magic that was swirling around her. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stick up at the static that Ron was putting off... somehow.

"Well, you see, the first thing Ginny told me was all about you, Harry," said Riddle. "Your whole fascinating history. " His eyes roved over the lightning scar on Harry's forehead, and their expression grew hungrier. "I knew I must find out more about you, talk to you, meet you if I could. I knew what I must do. It was clear to me that you were on the trail of Slytherin's heir. From everything Ginny had told me about you, I knew you would go to any lengths to solve the mystery - particularly if one of your best friends was attacked. And Ginny had told me the whole school was buzzing because you could speak Parseltongue ..." He laughed again, before continueing. "So I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here to wait. She struggled and cried and became very boring. But there isn't much life left in her ... She put too much into the diary, into me. Enough to let me leave its pages at last ... I have been waiting for you to appear since we arrived here. I knew you'd come. I have many questions for you, Harry Potter."

"Like what?" Harry spat, fists still clenched.

"Well," said Riddle, smiling pleasantly, "how is it that you a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent - managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time? How did you escape with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

"Why do you care how he escaped?" said Draco slowly, containing his anger better than Ron or Luna, but only just. "Voldemort was after your time..."

"Voldemort," said Riddle softly, "is my past, present, and future, Harry Potter . . . ."

He pulled Ginny's wand from his pocket and began to trace it through the air, writing three shimmering words:

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of his name rearranged themselves:

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

"... How long did it take you to make that up?" Draco asked, clearly falling back into old snarky habits. "And how luck are you to get the right letters in your name to mean 'he who flights from death' in french?"

Riddle ignored him.

"You see?" he whispered. "It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course.-"

"You had friends?"

"You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry - I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak-"

"Honestly," Draco cut in a third time, and even Riddle couldn't ignore him. Riddle turned to the blond, his pleasent smile turning into a glare as soon as his eyes left Harry's face. "I would be more afraid of Tom Riddle. It just sounds cool. Voldemort? Yes, it does strike fear, but more from your actions. If you stuck with Tom, then nobody would have named their kid that. Do you think anybody named their kid Adolf in the fifties and sixties? No."

Riddle opened his mouth, but froze.

Music was coming from somewhere. Riddle whirled around to stare down the empty Chamber. The music was growing louder. Then, as the music reached such a pitch that Harry felt it vibrating inside his own ribs, flames erupted at the top of the nearest pillar. A crimson bird singing its weird music to the vaulted ceiling, and it was gripping a ragged bundle. A second later, the bird was circling around the group, dropping the ragged bundle at Ron's feet, then flying straight at Harry, landing heavily on his shoulder.

"That's a phoenix..." said Riddle, staring shrewdly back at it.

"Fawkes?" Harry breathed, and he felt the bird's golden claws squeeze his shoulder gently.

"Fawkes?" Luna asked.

"Dumbledore's bird." Draco answered, quietly, staring at the bird on Harry's shoulder.

"And that -" said Riddle, now eyeing the ragged thing that Fawkes had dropped behind him, "that's the old school Sorting Hat -" Riddle began to laugh again. He laughed so hard that the dark chamber rang with it, as though ten Riddles were laughing at once. "This is what Dumbledore sends his defenders! A songbird and an old hat! Do you feel brave, Harry Potter? Do any of you feel safe now? To business, Harry," said Riddle, still smiling broadly, focusing sorely at Harry again, almost as if the others weren't there to him. "Twice - in your past, in my future - we have met. And twice I failed to kill you. How did you survive? Tell me everything. The longer you talk," he added softly, "the longer you stay alive."

Harry thought fast, weighing his chances, before motioning with his hand that wasn't holding his wand for Draco and Luna to move around Riddle's sides. Riddle had a wand, yes, but so did they, except for Ron. They had to get out of there, and keep people infront of the Weasleys. The longer Riddle stood there, the more life was dwindling out of Ginny ... and in the meantime, Harry noticed suddenly, Riddle's outline was becoming clearer, more solid. They had to get out of there.

"No one knows why you lost your powers when you attacked me," said Harry abruptly, keeping Riddle's eye contact, hoping that he wouldn't notice his friends moving. "I don't know myself But I know why you couldn't kill me. Because my mother died to save me. My common Muggle-born mother," he added, shaking with suppressed rage. "She stopped you killing me. And I've seen the real you, I saw you last year. You're a wreck. You're barely alive. That's where all your power got you. You're in hiding. You're ugly, you're foul -"

Riddle's face contorted. Then he forced it into an awful smile. "So. Your mother died to save you. Yes, that's a powerful countercharm. I can see now ... there is nothing special about you, after all. I wondered, you see. There are strange likenesses between us, after all. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself We even look something alike ... but after all, it was merely a lucky chance that saved you from me. That's all I wanted to know."

Harry stood, tense, motioning quickly to Draco and Luna to attack.

"Repulsi!"

"Stupify!"

Riddle merely raised Ginny's wand and called up a shield, before smiling as the spells rebonded. Riddle opened his mouth wide and hissed - but Harry understood what he was saying ...

"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four. "

Harry wheeled around to look up at the statue, Fawkes swaying on his shoulder.

Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horrorstruck, Harry saw his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole. And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something was slithering up from its depths.

Harry backed away until he hit the dark Chamber wall, and as he shut his eyes tight he felt Fawkes' wing sweep his cheek as he took flight. Something huge hit the stone floor of the Chamber. Harry felt it shudder - he knew what was happening, he could sense it, could almost see the giant serpent uncoiling itself from Slytherin's mouth. Then he heard Riddle's hissing voice:

"Kill them. "

The basilisk was moving toward Harry; he could hear its heavy body slithering heavily across the dusty floor. Eyes still tightly shut, Harry raised his wand and yelled, "Protego!" He felt the shield wrap around him and the vibrations of the snake trying to bite through. He had to smile. He didn't think he could get his shield that strong. He strained to keep it up under the heavy weight of the snake.

Draco yelled, then there was a loud, explosive spitting sound right above him, and then someone grabbed Harry and drug him away from the wall as he lost the shoeld. He heard more mad hissing, something thrashing wildly off the pillars

He couldn't help it - he opened his eyes wide enough to squint at what was going on.

The enormous serpent, bright, poisonous green, thick as an oak trunk, had raised itself high in the air and its great blunt head was weaving drunkenly between the pillars. It's eyes were closed and bleeding, and a quick glance around showed that Draco had used that spell he liked so much to blind the snake.

"Strong shield." Luna commented from behind him, as the one that had dragged him away. Ron was still over with Ginny, trying to figure out what to do with his broken wand.

The blinded serpent swayed, confused, still deadly. Fawkes was circling its head, piping his eerie song, jabbing here and there,finishing what Draco had started. Harry took a deep breath-he needed to calm down. The snake couldn't kill them just by looking anymore, they will be fine. Then he saw where Draco was and his heart stopped.

Draco was still way to close for comfort to the snake, having just used a short distance spell on it. The snake, still able to smell, reared back and was about to lunge at the blond and Harry couldn't do any thing about it. Suddenly, he felt Luna push him out of the way as she ran forward and threw Draco towards him and Ron, before throwing her arms out in front of the snake. The snake got pushed back by a blast of angry magic, before pushing back against the magic, causing a stand still.

"W-we have to do something..." Harry muttered and Draco nodded quickly, but before either could move, Ron ran past them and swung at the snake. Harry had to do a double take to notice that Ron had a gleaming silver sword, and that he actually drew blood. The snake took its attention off of Luna, who fell back, panting, and lunged sloppily at Ron, who dodged. Without its sight, the snake didn't know to change direction and continued flying at Draco and Harry.

Harry panicked and put up his shield again. He felt pressure again, and hoped the shield wouldn't break, but it couldn't hold up under the snake a second time. He felt, rather than saw, Draco jumping sideways and thought about jumping also before the shield broke and Harry felt a searing pain in his shoulder. One long, poisonous fang had hit his shoulder as the snake had keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor, right before it hit him.

Harry slid down the wall. He gripped the fang that was spreading poison through his body and wrenched it out of his shoulder. But he knew it was too late. White-hot pain was spreading slowly and steadily from the wound. Even as he dropped the fang and watched his own blood soaking his robes, his vision went foggy. The Chamber was dissolving in a whirl of dull color. He saw the blurs of his friends ran over, and vaugly noticed the sword Ron had had was now in the snake.

Huh.

"Harry!" He heard Ron shout. "Harry, look at us!"

Harry tried, he really did, but he couldn't focus on anything at this point. The colors all blured even more and his mind couldn't stay on one topic at a time. He realized he didn't even have complete thoughts anymore. He felt drowsy. The colors around him seemed to be spinning.

He heard voices and yelling and the colors moved rapidly, either from the already spinning or that the actually colors moving, he couldn't tell.

If this is dying, thought Harry, it's not so bad. Even the pain was leaving him ...

But was this dying? Instead of going black, the Chamber seemed to be coming back into focus. Harry gave his head a little shake and there was Fawkes, still resting his head on Harry's arm. There was a long, dreadful, piercing scream, startling him out of his hazy thoughts. He looked around and saw Ron over the black book, with both Luna and Draco pointing their wands at the screaming and vanishing Riddle. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, flooding the floor. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then

He was gone. Riddle was just... gone. There was silence, save for the three's pants and for the steady drip drip of ink still oozing from the diary. The basilisk venom had burned a sizzling hole right through it. It took a moment of calming down before Ron sighed and looked up, in the direction of Ginny, then focusing on Harry.

Shaking all over, Harry pulled himself up. His head was spinning as though he'd just traveled miles by Floo powder.

"Harry!" Ron yelled, making the other two spin around. They called his name as well and ran over. "Mate, you're all right!" He paused when Harry had nodded before standing abruptly. "Ginny!"

There was a faint moan from the end of the Chamber. Ginny was stirring. As Ron hurried toward her, she sat up. Her eyes traveled from the huge form of the dead basilisk, over Ron, to Harry, over Draco and Luna who were still kneeling beside Harry, then to the diary on the ground. She drew a great, shuddering gasp before grabbing onto Ron.

"B-Brother... I tried to tell you at b-breakfast, but I c-couldn't say it in front of Percy- how did you know I was here? W-where's Riddle? The last thing I r- remember is running from Luna- Oh Luna!-" Her speech started slightly calm, except for a slight stutter, completely focused on her brother. As she continued to talk, it turned into a rant before gasping and completely turning her attention the the blond haired girl.

"It's all right," said Luna, grabbing the book and holding up the diary, and showing Ginny the fang hole, "Riddle's finished. Look! Him and the basilisk. It's alright Ginny!" She smiled.

"C'mon, Ginny, let's get out of here -" Ron muttered, helping Ginny up, not letting her go, even if the other redhead had loosened her grip by a large margin.

Ginny didn't complain though. She didn't say another word as they climbed the hill out of the chamber, back into the bathroom.

And if she begun crying part way up, they weren't going to mention it.

"Well well well." Came a voice as they walked back into the bathroom. Harry, being the one leading, froze as a wand was pointed in his face, causing the others to halt behing him. "What do we have here?"


End file.
